The Reluctant Hero: An Adventure I Did Not Sign Up For
by flynndavis
Summary: Castor Orr is just your regular guy, until Percy Jackson turns up out of nowhere and ruins everything. Castor is thrown into a crazy world of gods, monsters, and danger - and he's not happy about it. Follow the most reluctant hero ever who has absolutely no idea what he's doing - and with the end of the world approaching, what could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

I'm going to start with a little bit of advice: adventures suck. They do. Sure, they sound awesome when _other_ people do them. Saving the world, getting the girl – what's not to like, right? Wrong.

Because when you're watching a movie, or reading a book, you know that the main character's going to survive. But when it's YOU – it's a whole different story. When some random appears out of nowhere, hands you a sword, tells you ' _Oh by the way, the Greek gods? You know, the ones that chuck lightning bolts, casually just drive the sun around in their spare time, and like to turn people into stone for absolutely no reason? Yeah those ones. They exist. Now go fight that gigantic monster,'_ it's not fun. It's terrifying. Like, bring spare underwear kind of terrifying.

And you don't get asked. You don't get a choice. One day you're happily eating your frosted cornflakes and settling into a great episode of _Spongebob Squarepants_ (and I don't care how old you are, that show is a classic), the next you're on a freaking flying horse tasked with saving the entire world. Before all of this, I never even handed a homework assignment in on time, let alone keep to a deadline to stop Armageddon. It's insane.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The name's Castor Orr, by the way. I know, it's weird name. But by the time we're done I promise you it'll seem positively mundane.

The moral of the story usually comes last, I know, but I'm going to put mine right at the beginning, just to make it super clear for you: if a guy named Percy Jackson ever turns up at your school, _transfer immediately._ That guy is seriously bad for your health – trust me.

Where to start? Well I guess we could start on the last day I ever had as a normal teenager. I was sitting in the cafeteria of Northvale High, Pennsylvania, with my friend, Daniel. Daniel was currently doing what Daniel did best – staring creepily at girls.

'Dude, the new chicks are sooooo hot.'

I looked up in the direction that Daniel was staring, his mouth slightly open, visibly salivating. And he wasn't the only one. The head of just about every guy was turning in the same direction, as were the glares of every girl that each had the force of a heat-seeking missile.

The girls he was talking about _were_ smoking hot. It may have been a trick of the light, but for a second I thought I could see heat waves literally coming off them.

There were three of them, and they looked like they belonged on a runway rather that lining up for tater-tots in our school cafeteria. One was blonde, one was a brunette, and the other a redhead. All had perfect teeth, perfect skin, perfect hair – the kind of perfect you just don't get in real life. Daniel was captivated.

'I heard they just transferred from out of state. I'm telling you man, they don't make them like that here in Penn.'

'More like another planet' I replied, my eyebrows raised. 'I wouldn't get too excited though. They're not going to talk to us. I'll be very surprised if they aren't all wearing cheerleader uniforms by this time tomorrow.'

Daniel pulled a face.

'You're such a down buzz, Castor. I've gone to the gym almost five times in the past few weeks. I'm just as tough as those jocks on the football team.'

'You've gone _almost_ five times?'

'Well, OK, I've been once, but you round up.'

The glamour girls finished getting their lunch, and bee-lined for the football team's table, where they were made very welcome, with a lot of muscle flexing and interjections of 'That's nothing, lemme tell you how much I lift…'

I patted Daniel on the back.

'If it makes you feel better, the stats say about 15 per cent of people die alone.'

'Dude, how is that supposed to make me feel better?' Daniel asked.

I shrugged. 'No idea.'

'Don't ever become a therapist. Or a suicide hotline worker.'

'Noted. Are we heading off to Phys Ed?'

Daniel got up with a sigh.

'I guess. But if we're doing softball again, I'm going to take Coach Grigsby's bat and shove it where the sun don't shine.'

I laughed. Little did I know that if that _had_ actually happened, it would have been way less unbelievable than what came next.

 **First fan fiction story, hope you guys enjoy**

 **Will be a mix of Original Characters and ones made by the legend himself Rick Riordan. Not too concerned about exactly when the story is set in terms of the chronology of the books.**

 **Will regularly update, I have the beginning of the story sorted out, but really open to your guys input – open to chapter ideas, character ideas etc, feel free. Any ideas you want or think will be cool, send them through!**

 **Mainly I just thought it would interesting to do a story from the perspective of a person who isn't particularly heroic haha and who struggles like any normal person would in the crazy situations these demigods are put in. Hope you like it**


	2. Chapter 2

The shrill shriek of Coach Grigsby's whistle cut through the chatter. I hated that whistle, almost as much as I hated Coach Grigsby. Almost. Let me put it this way, if both of them were trapped in a burning building, and I had to choose which one to save, I'd leave both of them and go get an ice-cream.

'We're playing softball today' Coach Grigsby bellowed. 'Split into two teams.'

There was a collective groan from the class, although it hardly came as a surprise. We always played softball in Phys Ed. It was probably the only sport Coach Grigsby's IQ could comprehend: 1. Throw ball, 2. Hit ball with stick, 3. Run in a circle.

I nudged Daniel.

'Aren't you meant to be doing something with that bat? Putting it somewhere it doesn't belong?'

Daniel shook his head.

'Dude, the girls from Victoria's Secret are here. I don't care what we do, as long as I can watch them do it.'

All three of the new girls were in our class, and I predicted that it was going to be pretty hard for any of the guys to focus on the game.

But unlike everyone else, my attention wasn't on the three bombshells. Idly standing behind them, his hands in the pockets of his shorts, I saw another person who I didn't recognise. He was quite tall, with messy black hair – the kind of messy that takes hours to perfect, _'What, I look that good? I just woke up like this, I swear'_ – and a kind of swaggering confidence that is always guaranteed to get on my nerves.

'Who's that?' I asked Daniel as we all lined up to be sorted into teams.

Daniel shrugged.

'Dunno. I think he just transferred too, from New York.'

I frowned. 'Why is our school so popular all of a sudden? I don't think we've ever had this many transfers.'

Daniel grinned at me.

'Who cares? Hey, maybe the ladies saw my Tinder profile and liked it so much they moved here.'

'Uh-huh' I responded. 'How many matches have you had on that?'

'In the vicinity of ten.'

'So, none.'

'Zero _is_ in the vicinity of ten, though.'

Two team captains quickly emerged: Jake and Rick, who usually let their swollen biceps do the talking for them. They began picking people in turn for their teams. Surprise, surprise, the three new girls were the first to be picked. It didn't matter to Jake or Rick that they probably couldn't tell one side of the bat from the other.

As usual, Daniel and I were the last to be chosen. Jake and Rick had previously asked if they could just voluntarily give us up, but apparently that was against the rules. Jake did a quick 'eenie meenie' to decide which one of us to pick, but got lost halfway through the song and just picked me for the hell of it.

Annoyingly, the new guy was on my team. He looked like the kind of guy who lived at the beach and still said stuff like 'Cowabunga dude' and 'That's radical!' I hated the ocean. When I was little, my mom had taken me to the beach and I'd gone hunting for crabs in the rock pools. I must have gone out too far, because there was this huge freak wave that came out of nowhere that swept me up and almost pulled me out into the ocean. It was the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to me. I still remember the power of the water as it swirled around me – it almost seemed… alive. I'd never been back to the beach.

The new guy caught me staring at him and decided to come over. I tried to pretend I was too interested in the grass to see him, but as fool-proof of a plan as that was, it failed.

'Sup' he said, sticking out hand. 'Percy Jackson. I'm new here.'

I reluctantly offered my hand to shake.

'Castor Orr. Nice to meet you.'

Percy raised his eyebrows.

'Wow, Castor Orr. That's a name that doesn't come up a lot. Must be fun at parties.'

 _Wow, a jokester too. How perfect._

I smiled thinly.

'Yeah, my mom was really into Greek myths and stuff. Castor was one of the twins who-'

'Sailed with Jason and Argonauts' Percy finished, cutting me off. 'Yeah, I know. Sons of Zeus.'

That put me off for a second. I'd never met someone who actually knew where my name came from.

'That's right' I said, after a pause. 'My mom's kind of a nerd for that stuff. But it could be worse, I mean, Zeus is pretty cool. With the lightning bolts and stuff.'

Percy shrugged.

'I always thought it was kinda gimmicky. Like a giant walking power socket.'

 _What is up with this guy?_

'I guess you could see it like that.'

Coach Grigsby blew his whistle again, and the game began. For the first time in my life, I was happy to hear it, because it meant I had an excuse to stop talking to Percy.

Jake, as captain of our team, had made the tough decision to let himself go first. He swaggered into the diamond, swinging the bat around, trying to look impressive for the new transfer girls.

One of them was actually pitching. Rick had let the redhead take his place, which just showed he was willing to do basically anything to look good in front of her.

Jake was grinning, clearly relishing the chance to show off his skills and bag a date.

'Don't worry babe' he called out to the redhead as he got ready to swing 'I'll go easy on you.'

The redhead didn't say anything. She just silently wound her arm back, and then threw.

It was so fast that I actually missed the throw itself. One moment she was holding the baseball in her hand, there was a faint whirring sound, then Jake was doubled over on the ground coughing and wheezing.

It took a second for everyone to work out what had happened. Some people laughed, and a few even cheered. I stared at the girl, whose facial expression was still studiously blank.

'Take him to the nurse' Coach Grigsby yelled, and couple of Jake's cronies came forward to help him up and to hobble off the pitch. Jake's eyes were unfocused, and he was muttering to himself. That girl had some arm on her. I'd seen professional baseball players with slower pitches.

Jake's demise, as funny as it was, had left us without a team captain.

'Any volunteers?' Coach Grigsby bellowed. We all just stood and looked at each other. None of us could remember a time when both Jake and Rick hadn't been team captains. Also, we weren't exactly keen to get in the firing line after just witnessing Jake being absolutely destroyed by a baseball thrown with the force of a cannonball.

'I'll do it.'

I turned to see that Percy had raised his hand.

 _You've got to be kidding me._

Percy grinned, seemingly unconcerned.

'Hey, man' I said to him in an undertone 'I don't think that's a good idea.'

Percy waved me off.

'Trust me, I've survived a lot worse.'

 _Arrogant too. Good mix._

I laughed.

'Whatever, it's your funeral. But don't be expecting me to scrape you off the field.'

'OK newbie, let's see what you've got!' Coach Grigsby shouted.

I smiled to myself. I only wished I had some popcorn; this was going to be fun to watch.


	3. Chapter 3

With a swagger, Percy walked up to the plate. He picked the bat up from where Jake had dropped it, and began to twirl it in his hands.

Percy had clearly played some softball before. The bat was like an extension of his arm. I watched as he swung it expertly, almost like a… a sword.

I frowned to myself.

 _Where did that thought come from?_

The red-head had suddenly become a lot more animated. She was smiling at Percy, but it was probably the freakiest smile I had ever seen. It wasn't a smile that said, ' _Hi! Nice to meet you'_ , it was more the kind that said, _'Hi! I'm going to tear you apart and gnaw at your bones. With a side of salsa.'_ Looking at her smile, I realised that the girl's teeth were really sharp, like she'd filed them. In fact, they looked less like teeth and more like fangs.

'Peerseeus Jackson' the girl hissed. It was the first time I'd heard her speak, and it made me take a step backwards. When I say she hissed, I'm not exaggerating – her tongue flicked in and out as she spoke.

I looked around me, but no-one else seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary. They all looked like they always did during Phys Ed – bored.

 _Am I the only one seeing this? Seriously?_

'Mormo' Percy replied, grinning. 'Long time, no see. You look good. Done something with your hair? Trying out some new eyeshadow? Let me tell you, it is working a treat.'

Mormo narrowed her eyes.

'Alwaysss with the jokesss. You made a mistake in coming here, Peerseeus. The one we came for isss but a small morsel – barely enough to whet my and my sister's appetites. But you, Son of Poseidon, you are a much juicier specimen. You will make a great feast for us.'

OK, I'll be honest with you – at this point, I was seriously freaking out. I didn't understand half of whatever this Mormo was talking about, but it sounded like she was some kind of serial killer. An extremely sexy, serial killer. I had no idea what to do.

No one around had noticed anything amiss – they seemed to think Percy was just stalling for time, and were starting to yell at him to get on with the game. It was like I was only one who could see what was happening.

'Percy' I asked, my voice breaking slightly with the fear. 'What the hell's going on?'

Percy meanwhile was leaning on his softball bat, nonchalantly checking his fingernails for specks of dirt.

'Chill, Castor. I've got this one under control' he said, like this was something that happened to him every other day. ' _A girl wants to kill and eat me? Not again, that's twice this week. Can't a guy catch a break?'_

Percy lifted the bat and pointed it at the girl he called Mormo.

'Look, sorry to spoil your fun Mormo, but I'm afraid Castor and I are off the menu. But I like you, I do, so I'm going to give you and your sisters a onetime opportunity to walk away now with those pretty little heads still on your shoulders. Only because I'm such a nice guy. Do we have a deal?'

The other two girls, the blonde and the brunette, joined Mormo and stood on either side of her, with matching evil smiles.

'Your bravado does you credit, little demigod' Mormo laughed. 'But we are not leaving this place until we are sated.'

Percy's smiled widened.

'I was hoping you'd say that.'

With astonishingly fast reflexes, Percy spun the bat until he held it in his hand like a javelin, then threw it. It hit Mormo in the face with a satisfying thump, and she howled in pain.

'Kill him!' she shrieked at her friends.

The girls snarled, and changed before my eyes. It was like an outer layer had been pulled off them; moments before, where I had been looking at beautiful girls, now stood the ugliest creatures I'd ever seen. They had big leathery wings, and claws, and their legs were those of animals – all hairy and muscled. Well, I guess it is true what they say – beauty is only skin deep.

People were screaming now – something about a giant flock of birds? I couldn't quite make it out amongst the noise. The class ran for the gym, despite the vocal protests of Coach Grigsby.

While everyone else made a break for it, two of the monsters came at Percy, who was rummaging in his pockets for something. Gum maybe? It's important to have good breath when you're just about to be ripped to shreds by crazy bird-women, I guess.

'Percy!' I shouted. 'What are you doing? Run!'

'Dude, I told you, relax' Percy called back. 'I promise, everything is under-'

One of the bird-ladies hit Percy, sending him flying backwards. He skidded across the grass, finally coming to a stop about fifty yards away.

'Percy!' I shouted.

I saw him raise a hand.

'It's cool' he replied, somewhat more faintly. 'Just a small hiccup in the plan.'

One of the bird ladies was descending on Percy from the air, her giant wings beating, claws outstretched. Just when it seemed like she had him in her clutches, there was a flash of metal and she exploded into dust, leaving nothing but a squawk of surprise behind.

Percy got to his feet and gave me a thumbs up. In his hand he held a sword – a real, full length sword. Where the heck had he been keeping that this whole time, stuffed down his shorts?

'It's all good' he told me. 'One down, two to go. Count 'em for me, Castor.'

The other bird-lady had backed up a little at seeing her friend disintegrate.

'You'll pay for that, half-blood' she spat.

Percy raised his free hand and made a beckoning motion, universal sign language for _'Bring it on.'_

The bird-lady sprung, swiping at Percy's head with her talons. Percy ducked, rolled, then was back up again in time to parry a second attack. He feinted right with his sword, and when the bird-lady swept her claws up to defend herself, he quickly switched his attack to the left, driving the point into her foot.

The bird-lady cried something out in a language that half sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place. Whatever she said, I bet it wasn't a compliment.

Percy kicked her in the chest, sending her sprawling. The bird lady spread her wings, frantically looking for a way to escape, but before she could lift off Percy bought his sword down and plunged it into her chest, and she disintegrated.

Percy let off a whoop, before blowing kisses to an imaginary crowd.

'He shoots, he scores' he called, waving his sword in the air. 'Rookie sensation Percy Jackson wows the fans. That's why they're already calling him the greatest demi-god of all time.'

 _This guy is seriously nuts._

Mormo was all on her own now, and was looking a lot less confident. Her tongue flickered as she licked her lips apprehensively. Percy flicked his sword up in her direction.

'Your turn Mormo' he said. 'Come on now, don't be shy.'

Mormo hissed, and unfurled her leathery wings.

'Ifff I can't have demi-god' she screeched, beating her wings and rising into the air, 'then mortal will have to do.'

Percy's smile dropped.

'Now you're not even playing fair' he complained. He ran at Mormo, and leapt, just missing her underside with his sword as she flew out of reach.

Mormo cackled, then angled towards the gym were I could see students milling about frantically. The fire alarm was blaring, which wasn't really helping to calm things down.

Percy stabbed his sword into the dirt and swore loudly.

'This is just great' he groaned. 'Chiron is not going to be happy. Typical monster, chickening out like that – right Castor?'

At this point, I was in a state of shock. Like when a little kid falls flat on their face and they just sit there for a while wondering what the heck just happened and waiting for the pain to kick in.

'Those girls had wings' I said matter-of-factly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. 'They flew around. Then you killed two of them with a sword. An actual _sword_. Now one of them is going to eat everyone in the school. Have I missed anything?'

'Yeah, how awesome my moves were' Percy replied. 'Two outta three ain't bad. And the way nailed that first one when she thought she had me? That's gotta be in my top ten moves _ever_.'

'OK' I said, speaking slowly. All of this stuff was starting to give me a headache. 'Well, it was great to meet you Percy. Thanks for the show. I'm going to leave now.'

I turned, but Percy grabbed my arm.

'Dude, you can't leave' he said, his joking features suddenly serious. 'You won't be safe now. Ever. There's only one place that's safe for people like you – like us – and I'll take you to it.'

I laughed. 'If you think I'm going _anywhere_ with you, you're even crazier than I thought.'

Percy shrugged.

'What was it you said to me before? It's your funeral. But the Mormolyceia were just the start. There'll be worse coming, a lot worse, and you don't want to be sticking round when they turn up.'

Percy turned towards the gym.

'Anyway, before we go anywhere, we've got an insanely hungry monster heading towards the school. And I don't think she's in the mood for burritos. Let's go.'

'Woah' I said. 'I can't stop that thing.'

Percy tutted.

'Course you can. You're a demi-god.'

'A what?'

Percy paused.

'Doesn't matter, I don't have the time to explain right now. Anyway, I'll do most of the work this time. You can just be my cheer squad.'

'Great' I replied. 'Sounds like fun.'

'Dude, I can never tell if you're being sarcastic or not. I just hope you're ready to show Mormo that the only thing on today's menu is celestial bronze, served Percy style.'


	4. Chapter 4

Percy's sword turned into a pen. A freaking _pen._ I thought mine was cool for being able to write in three different colours.

'You have a magical sword that can turn into a piece of stationery' I said to Percy, testing the sentence to see if it sounded any less ridiculous when I said it out loud. It didn't.

Percy laughed.

'You just saw three girls sprout wings and talons and try to eat me, and that's what you're hung up on? You're a funny guy, Castor. Oh, by the way, I brought one for you as well.'

Percy fished in his pocket for a second and pulled out a bright yellow glue-stick.

'What's this?' I asked.

Percy gave me look.

'Dude, what does it look like?'

'It looks like a stick of glue.'

Percy tutted.

'Well obviously it isn't _just_ a stick of glue. It's of a similar make to mine. Pull the cap off.'

I popped the cap, and in my hand a sword shimmered into sight. I immediately dropped it. It was much shorter than Percy's, but it was still crazy heavy.

'There, you see?' Percy smiled. 'It's a sword. Pointy end goes in the monsters. Be careful with it around children. Trust me, I learnt that last one the hard way.'

'I know what is, I'm not an idiot. Why are you giving it to me?'

'So you can use it' Percy answered slowly, as if he was talking to a moron. 'It's celestial bronze, so it'll slice right through that demon chicks and send her right back to Tartarus. You really are quite slow on the uptake, aren't you?'

'I don't know how to use a sword! I've never used one in my life. No one uses swords now, you realise that right? What the heck do you use it for, buttering your bread?'

Percy rolled his eyes and groaned in exasperation.

'I don't have time for this. Look man, just take the sword. You'll be fine; your demi-god powers should kick in, it'll be a piece of cake. The whole thing's as easy as falling off a bike.'

'Don't you mean riding a bike?' I asked.

Percy waved his hand. 'Same thing.'

'Not really.'

Percy pushed the sword into my hands. It was really heavy. I could hardly lift the thing, let alone swing it.

'Let's go' he said, clearly annoyed, as if handing someone a freaking bronze sword to kill monsters with was the most normal thing in the world, and anyone who had a problem with it was _obviously_ the weird one.

Percy set off at a run, and I followed, dragging the stupid sword behind me.

It was absolute pandemonium in the school halls. The school alarm was blaring, and there were kids everywhere, running into each other and utterly failing at making any kind of ordered exit. Their teachers were trying to calm them down, with absolutely no success.

'Why isn't everyone losing their minds?' I asked Percy as we ran. 'There's a winged monster flying around. That's kinda scary, don't you think?'

'Mortals see what they want to see' Percy replied, poking his head round a corner before giving us the all clear. 'A chick sprouting wings and claws is too much for them to handle. Their minds will process it as something that makes sense to them.'

'But I can see them' I said. 'And if I'm honest I think it's too much for _my_ brain to handle.'

'I know it's a lot to take in' Percy said sympathetically. 'And I promise I'll explain everything once we get back to camp. But right now we just need to focus on taking Mormo out.'

Ahead of us, a kid came bursting out of the doors of the gym. As the doors swung shut behind him, we could hear people screaming and the unmistakeable sound of hissing.

'Speaking of which' Percy said, taking pen out of his pocket and uncapping it so his sword appeared, glinting wickedly in his hand. 'There's a big flying chicken round here that needs to be made into a kebab. Get your sword out, Castor.'

'Why does yours get to be a pen?' I complained. 'Why do I get the glue stick?'

'We can't _all_ have pens; that would be boring. Anyway, glue sticks are cool. They… stick things together.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Whatever.'

We burst into the gym, swords drawn. I'd like to think we looked pretty awesome. Then I tripped over a dodgeball that had been left lying on the ground. Awesome moment over.

Mormo was hovering up near the roof of the gym, and had herded a group of about twenty frightened kids into the corner. They were cowering, shouting something about a giant eagle.

'Hey, Mormo!' Percy shouted. 'Why don't you pick on someone your own size?'

Mormo bared her teeth in a snarl.

'Your time is coming to an end, demi-god' she screeched. 'Soon, I will feast on mountains of your kind, and my hunger will finally be filled.'

'Sounds like fun' Percy grinned. 'But can we have a rain check on that?'

Percy ran over to a big bucket full of dodge balls and picked one up.

'I've got a better game in mind' he called up to her. 'I call it Piñata. Except I'm going to cheat because I'm not gonna close my eyes.'

He threw the dodgeball, and it hit Mormo in the face, the rubber making a great smacking noise as it collided with her beak. She spun in mid-air, struggling to maintain altitude. Percy threw another, with the same devastating accuracy, and it took her in the chest, winding her. I tried to throw one, but I accidentally hit one of the kids instead. Oh well.

Mormo was frantically weaving from side to side, desperately trying to dodge the balls as they came at her like bullets from a machine gun. Eventually one hit her in the wing and she fell to the ground with a thud. We watched her for moment. She didn't try to get up.

'Man, I am on fire today' Percy said, making his way over. He twirled his sword in his right hand, like conductor's baton. 'It's almost too easy, I'd kinda like a bit more of a ch-'

With lightning fast speed, Mormo moved. With her wing she knocked the sword out of Percy's hand, and as his eyes widened with surprise she swept him aside with her talon. Percy flew across the gym and hit the wall, where he crumpled.

'Percy?' I yelled. 'Percy, are you OK?'

No reply.

Mormo got up slowly, and turned her baleful gaze towards me.

'Looksss like I will have demi-god today after all' she smiled.

I gripped my sword with both hands and pointed it at her.

'Stay back' I told her, trying to sound confident despite my hands shaking so much I could barely keep a grip on the sword.

Mormo was not fooled. She laughed.

'I ssshall enjoy consuming you, little one' she said, coming closer. 'You will be the firssst of many.'

Suddenly, she leapt at me. In a panic, I stepped backwards and felt myself slipping. I lost my grip on the sword and it flew upwards as I fell over – just as Mormo flew above me, swiping at where my head had been seconds earlier. It's hard to remember exactly what happened next – it was all a blur - but I remember hearing a squelching noise that put my teeth on edge. Percy, who'd seen the whole thing from the other side of the gym, told me later that my sword went right through the belly of Mormo and exited the other side. In his words, it was _'epic.'_

The demon bird lady cried out, and then exploded, causing dust to fall all over me. I coughed, shielding my eyes. In a heartbeat, Percy was there, hobbling over to me.

'Duuuuuude' he said, his voice coloured with new-found respect. 'That was one of the most awesome things I've ever seen.

I was about to tell him that it had been an accident, but then I stopped myself.

'Thanks' I said, still breathless.

Percy held out a hand and helped me up.

'C'mon, let's get out of here' he said, eyeing the students who were staring at us, wide-eyed. 'I don't want to have to answer a bunch of stupid questions. I've got a ride waiting outside.'


	5. Chapter 5

I shouldn't have been surprised to learn that when Percy said 'ride', he meant a flying horse. Why not, right?

It was waiting patiently in the parking lot, in the principal's spot. I could just imagine Mr Fitzpatrick trying to get the horse towed.

The stallion's coat was pitch black, with a long flowing mane and large, dark feathered wings which were folded in against its body. When it spotted Percy it nickered loudly, pawing at the ground with it hooves.

'Sup, Blackjack' Percy said, talking to the horse. 'This is Castor Orr, he's coming back to camp with us.'

The horse whinnied, jerking its head in my direction.

Percy laughed.

'I know, but he's actually tougher than he looks. He just skewered a Mormolyceia – it was pretty sweet.'

I looked between the horse and Percy in confusion.

'Uh… no offence man, but why are you talking to the horse?'

'Bro, this isn't just any horse' Percy corrected me, stroking its head. 'His name is Blackjack. He's descended from Pegasus.'

I blinked.

' _The_ Pegasus? Like, from _Hercules_?'

'Yup' Percy replied nonchalantly. 'Anyway, with my dad being Poseidon, I can talk to horses. It's no biggie.'

 _Woah… that's a heck of a lot to take in all at once._

'Your dad is Poseidon?' I asked incredulously. 'As in, Greek myth Poseidon? God of the seas?'

'Uh-huh' Percy agreed. 'That's the one.'

'But those are just myths' I protested. 'They're not _real_.'

Percy gave me a look.

'You saw those Mormolyceia with your own eyes. You're gonna have to start accepting that a lot of crazy, impossible things are real. The Greek gods never went away Castor. They just moved. They started in Greece. Now they're here, in America.'

 _This has to be some kind of joke. Am I being pranked right now?_

I let my breath out heavily. 'OK, so let's say, for the sake of argument, that your dad really is Poseidon. He's the one who holds a giant trident, right? I thought his daughter was Ariel.'

Percy scowled.

'No, that's only in _The Little Mermaid_ ,moron.'

'Sorry' I said, rubbing my head as I tried to get my head around what Percy had just told me. 'So… you're a god?'

That cracked Percy up. Once he stopped laughing, he shook his head.

'No way man. My mom's as normal as they come. But I am a demi-god; half-god, half-mortal. There's loads of them in the ancient Greek myths. You probably know some of them; Theseus, Hercules – he's got his own cartoon – Perseus' he paused before continuing, 'Castor. The guy your mom named you after.'

I blinked.

'So you're saying my dad was a god?'

Percy nodded.

'Yup. I mean, you never met him, right?'

I shook my head.

'He left when I was little. I don't remember anything about him.'

'Live with your mom? Who is always _super_ evasive whenever you ask her anything about him?'

I nodded, surprised.

'Yeah. How did you know that?'

Percy patted me on the back.

'Don't worry about it bro. We've all been there. Where we're going, everyone can relate. Trust me.'

'Was my dad Poseidon too?' I asked.

Percy shrugged.

'No idea. You'll find out sooner or later. Although I think I could tell if your dad was Poseidon, and I don't _think_ he is. But there'll be time for all this later. We need to get going.'

I shook my head.

'What about my mom? She'll freak out if I don't come home.'

'Chiron, the camp director, already talked to her' Percy reassured me. 'We only found out about you recently, and I got here as soon as I could. But Chiron talked to your mom this morning. She's cool with everything. She knew we'd come to find you one day.'

'Percy, I've just had the craziest day of my life. I need to see my mom.'

Percy chewed his lip.

'OK, fine' he decided. 'We can do a quick IM. But only for a few minutes, got it?'

'Instant message?' I asked.

'Nah, Iris Message. Way cooler. Check this out.'

Percy led me over to a water fountain and turned on the spray. As the sunlight met the mist created by the spray of water, it made a small rainbow – the kind you see in garden sprinklers on hot days.

Percy produced a large gold coin, and threw it into the mist. When it made contact with the rainbow in the water, the coin disappeared.

'Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering' Percy intoned. 'Also, lower your prices, a whole drachma per call is a total rip-off.'

He gestured to me.

'Say your mom's name, and picture her in your head as you say it.'

I stepped forward.

'Kate Orr' I said, and thought about her honey blonde hair, which was like mine, her blue eyes, and the way they crinkled up when she smiled.

Suddenly, a picture of my mom appeared in the mist. She was at home, sitting in the kitchen, toying with the table cloth. She always did that when she felt nervous.

'Mom?' I asked.

Her image in the spray turned, and she broke into a relieved smile.

'Castor!' she said, sounding like a weight had been lifted off her chest. 'Oh honey, are you alright? Where are you now? Who's with you? Do you need-

'Woah, easy mom' I said, grinning. 'I'm fine. I've had a… interesting day. I'm with a guy called Percy Jackson.'

Percy leaned in behind me.

'Hi Ms Orr' he beamed. 'I'm taking good care of Castor, even if sometimes his sarcasm just makes me want to leave him on a desert island somewhere-'

I pushed Percy away.

'Thanks for that Percy. Anyway, are you OK mom?'

She gave me a weak smile. Her face was still looked creased with worry.

'Don't worry about me, Castor. I'll be fine. I had a visit this morning from… someone who wants you to be looked after. They told me Percy would take you to a camp where you'll fit in. Where you'll be safe.'

'But what about you?' I asked. 'Can't you come too?'

'Honey, I knew this time would come eventually' my mom said, sadness creeping into her voice. 'It was selfish of me to keep you with me this long. Castor, your father was… special. And that makes the world a dangerous place for you. I'm sure they'll explain everything to you at the camp. But just know that I love you very much. And so did your father.'

'He left when I was a baby' I said, the anger in my voice surprising myself. 'What kind of a loving dad does that?'

'It was more complicated than that, Castor. He didn't leave because he didn't love you. He just couldn't stay.'

Percy tapped me on the shoulder.

'Castor, dude, I hate to break this up, but we _really_ need to go.'

'Why?' I asked. I had so many questions for my mother. How long had she known I was a… demigod? Had she known my father was a god when they fell in love? Who was my father?

'Uh, because the entire Mormolyceia Sorority just turned up, and I don't think they're here to throw us a bake sale.'

I turned to see a dozen winged girls in matching cheerleader outfits making their way towards us. A bunch of them were using their pom-poms to form the letters _K-I-L-L-U._

I faced my mom again.

'Mom, I have to go. I'm sorry.'

She waved me away.

'Go. Be safe. I love you.'

Her face disappeared as Percy turned off the water fountain.

'This is going to be a close thing' Percy muttered. He whistled, and Blackjack came galloping up beside us.

'Get on Castor' Percy said.

'Um, this might not be a great time' I answered awkwardly. 'But I'm kinda afraid of heights. We're not going to fly on this thing, are we?'

The horse heat-butted me in the back.

'Firstly, call Blackjack by his name, or he gets offended' Percy replied. 'Secondly, of course we're going to fly. Why would I have a winged horse and not fly? C'mon genius.'

Percy grabbed me round the middle, and threw me onto Blackjack. I scrambled up into a sitting position. Percy climbed up to sit in front of me.

He turned and grinned back at me.

'OK, hold on tight. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.'


	6. Chapter 6

Percy hadn't been kidding when he said the ride was going to be 'bumpy.' If anything, that was a massive understatement.

I don't know about you, but I've never been on a flight that included my pilot laughing manically as he cut through demonic flying cheerleaders with a sword, all the time belting out an off-key rendition of Justin Bieber's 'Sorry.'

And I didn't even get offered complimentary peanuts. Percy Airlines sucked.

The speed at which Blackjack flew was staggering. You'd think a horse with bird wings would be kinda on the slow side, but we covered huge distances amazingly quickly. After Percy dealt with the Mormolyceia, and I'd spewed up a couple times – which Percy told me Blackjack found hilarious – it wasn't long before New York City's skyline appeared.

'Woah' I shouted to Percy above the wind. 'We're in New York already?'

'Pretty sweet, huh?' Percy called back. 'Pegasai are awesome. Faster than fighter jets, and with none of the vertigo.'

'So where is this camp exactly?' I asked

'Long Island' Percy answered. 'You'll love it, trust me.'

We flew over New York City. It was getting dark by this point, and the lights of the metropolis were starting to wink into existence. I could see people in the skyscrapers walking around in their offices, could hear the honking of horns from angry city drivers, and could see the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. From where I was sitting, it all looked… well, breath-taking. Although that could have been the bug I'd accidentally swallowed.

Leaving New York City behind, we headed towards Long Island. As we got closer, the sky began to darken. I could see storm clouds forming overhead, and the unmistakeable rumble of thunder.

I heard Percy sigh in annoyance.

'Sorry 'bout this Castor' he said. 'It's just somebody's idea of a joke.' Percy cupped his hand to his mouth. ' _Which is NOT funny!'_ he yelled into the night sky.

I was confused. How could a storm be a joke that someone was playing? Unless…

Out the darkness something came speeding towards us.

'Here we go' Percy muttered. 'Showing off, as usual.'

Whatever it was flew right above us – so close I could feel a gust of wind tousle my hair. I turned to see a guy, a couple of years older than me, probably Percy's age, do a loop-de-loop in mid-air, before coming to hover in front of us.

'Percy' the guy said. 'How's it going?'

He looked like a pin-up poster. He had longish blonde hair, electric blue eyes, and his muscled forearm had what looked like a bar-code tattooed on. The guy looked perfect – and I didn't trust that.

'Pretty good' Percy replied. His smile seemed a little forced. 'Castor, this is Jason Grace, son of Zeus and counsellor for Cabin One. Jason, this is Castor Orr. I'm taking him to camp – or at least, I was, before you decided to drop in.'

'Sorry about that' Jason smiled. 'But rules are rules. I've got to check everyone coming into the camp, especially now that –'

'Don't worry about it' Percy said. 'It's fine.'

Jason turned his deep blue eyes to me. He had a faint scar at the corner of his lip – probably from wrestling a bear or something awesome. My only scar comes from falling off the jungle gym in fifth grade.

'It's great to meet you, Castor. I'm sure we'll get to see a lot of each other.'

'Uh, yeah. Sure' I said awkwardly.

 _Don't count on me signing up to the Jason Grace fan club anytime soon._

'See you round' Jason grinned, before turning and shooting back off, leaving only a buffet of air in his wake.

'Well, that was interesting' I commented as Percy directed Blackjack to start descending.

'Yeah' Percy answered shortly. 'Look, Castor, Jason's a nice guy but…'

'He's not everything he seems?' I finished for him.

Percy nodded.

'I mean, he's a hero. And he used to be one of my best friends. But hero status has a way of changing people. Everyone around you keeps saying how awesome you are, sooner or later you start believing them. Maybe a bit too much.'

I nodded.

'But anyway, you don't need to worry about it' Percy continued. 'It's not your problem. Unless you happen to be a Son of Zeus, but considering how rubbish you are with heights, I don't think that's likely.'

I laughed weakly.

Below us, the camp finally came into view. It was dark, so I couldn't see a heck of a lot, but I could see an amphitheatre – Ancient Greek style – and a bunch of cabins formed in a U shape. There was a lake on one side, and on the other, a forest. It looked like a typical summer camp, except no summer camp I'd ever been to made use of flying horses for transport.

Blackjack beat his powerful feathered wings as we came into land, the grass rippling around us in the gust like when a helicopter lands. Blackjack made a smooth landing, and I slipped off gratefully, planting my feet back on firm earth.

I looked at the horse.

'Uh, thanks' I said, unsure of myself.

Blackjack flapped his lips at me, exposing his teeth in something that almost looked like a smile.

'C'mon Castor.' Percy was already leading me towards a multi-storied colonial era house. 'I've got to tell Chiron, the camp director, they we got here safe. He'll want to talk to you, too.'


	7. Chapter 7

In the dark, the house kinda creeped me out. It loomed tall, and seemed to be leaning over slightly, as if it was crouching, getting ready to spring.

 _OK, am I going nuts?_

I followed Percy onto the porch of the house, up to an ornate oak door. The wood panels were filled with intricate carvings, depicting epic battles between heroes and monsters. In one, a boy was facing off against a giant with snakes for hair. Someone had chipped in a speech bubble above the boy's head, with the words _'Come at me bro'_ , which probably wasn't totally faithful to the original Ancient Greek version.

Percy raised his hand to knock on the door, then stopped. He turned to me.

'Just so you don't freak out' he said, as if the idea seemed ridiculous, 'but the camp director is a centaur.'

' _What?'_

Without any further explanation, Percy knocked – three short knocks, followed by two fast ones, and then a final loud rap.

'Is there a special code?' I asked.

'Nah' Percy replied. 'I just like annoying Mr D.'

'Who?'

'Mr D. He's technically the head of the camp, but it's Chiron who actually does all the work. Mr D mainly just drinks coke, plays pinochle, and dresses badly.'

I didn't know what to say to that.

Finally I went with, 'Thanks for the heads up.'

'No problem bro' Percy replied. 'But don't worry; everything will be fine. Probably.'

'Probably?' I asked.

'Well, there's like a 95% chance of it being fine. Or is that 25%? I always sucked at math…' Percy trailed off as the door swung open.

'Peter Johnson' came an irritated voice from the shadows of the house's interior. 'I should have guessed.'

'Sorry 'bout this Castor…' Percy murmured to me under his breath. 'But you're about to meet Mr D.'

The person who the voice belonged to stepped out into the light of the porch. I was almost blinded by the brightness of his garish Hawaiian shirt. Even in the middle of the night, its lime green and canary yellow patterns had the strength to burn my retinas. The guy had a serious paunch, which made his shirt bulge outwards, and he sported an impressive beard. He looked like a frat guy who'd fallen asleep in Cancun on Spring Break and woken up about fifty years later.

Mr D narrowed his eyes at us.

'What do you want? I was trying to binge watch _The Walking Dead_. I'm way behind, and I don't someone letting slip a spoiler before I've seen it all.'

'Mr D' Percy said, stepping forward. 'This is Castor Orr. He's the new demi-god I was assigned to retrieve. We need to see Chiron.'

'Nice to meet you' I said, proffering my hand to Mr D. He looked at it like I'd just offered him a slab of rotting ham.

'I'm afraid Chiron is indisposed' Mr D told Percy. He didn't sound particularly upset about it. 'He left Camp not long after you did, and he has yet to return.'

Percy frowned.

'Where'd he go?' Percy asked. 'He didn't tell me was leaving.'

Mr D raised his scraggly eyebrows in mock surprise.

'You mean to tell me he didn't consult with _you_ before deciding to go somewhere? I'm appalled. How could he dream of doing anything without the permission of _the_ Perry Johansson, demi-god extraordinaire?'

 _This guy's level of sarcasm of seriously off the charts. And I thought I was good._

Percy let out a deep breath.

'OK, OK' Percy said. 'But Castor still needs the orientation. I've done my best to explain, but I don't think I exactly nailed it.'

'I expect you did the exact opposite of _nailing_ it' Mr D said, sounding extremely bored. 'I guess it comes down to me to give the boy a run through. Once again, I am the only one to do any work in this dump…'

Mr D trailed off and looked up at the sky.

' _You hear that?'_ he called up to the dark clouds overhead. _'I'm doing a GREAT job, as usual.'_

The sky didn't reply. I looked at Percy and raised an eyebrow. We had a quick, silent conversation.

 _Me: Dude, what is up with this guy?_

 _Percy: You don't wanna know._

 _Me (jerking my head in his direction): Is he safe to go with?_

 _Percy (nodding): You'll be fine. I'll be here when you get back. Good luck, man._

Mr D curled his lip.

'That will be all, Mr Johnson. I'll take it from here. Come on, Mr Orr, let's get this over with.'

 _Hold on, why did he get MY name right?_

Percy gave me thumbs up as I followed Mr D into the house. As soon as I stepped over the threshold, the door slammed shut on its own.

I swallowed.

 _It was probably just the wind. Yeah, definitely the wind._

It was gloomy inside. I saw a stairway snaking upwards to the higher floors. In front of me stretched a hall, with doors leading off it, until the whole thing receded into darkness and I couldn't make anything else out.

'Welcome to Camp Half-Blood.'

I jumped. Mr D had somehow materialised behind me.

'Uh, thanks' I replied nervously.

I'm not gonna lie – I was scared of the guy. I've always been a good reader of people – a kind of knack for being able to assess someone's real character pretty quickly. It's kept me out of a lot of fights over the years.

And while on the surface Mr D looked pretty ridiculous, the way the light danced in his eyes gave him a… a frenzied look. It was the look of someone with no self-control, who enjoyed crossing boundaries so much that they weren't even sure where the line was anymore. You know what I mean – every school has that one kid who keeps pushing and pushing until eventually they do something insane like drive their car into the principal's office. From what I could tell, Mr D was that kid – except about a hundred times crazier.

Mr D led me to a room which was kitted out with a pretty mean home cinema. After telling me that if I made one noise during the movie he'd turn me into a dolphin – to which I did not know how to reply, so I decided on wisely just shutting up – Mr D switched on a movie.

It was pretty nuts. I mean, the production quality was pretty bad and thing had about as much chance of winning an Oscar as I had on scoring with Scarlett Johansson, but its actual content blew my mind.

It covered basically the same stuff that Percy had already told me. The Greek gods were still a thing – who knew? They moved to where Western civilization was strongest, which was now apparently the top of the Empire State Building in New York.

According to the movie, when a god and a mortal loved each other _very_ much, they would have affairs, the product of which were kids like me: half-god, half-human hybrids. Camp Half-Blood was the only place we were safe.

The film ended, and Mr D switched on the lights. He was munching on a giant tub of popcorn and sipping on a diet Coke. He didn't offer me any.

'Any questions?' he asked, in a voice that made it clear I better not have any questions if I knew what was good for me.

'Yeah' I answered. 'What does Mr D stand for?'

Mr D looked at me for a second, then shrugged.

'Dionysius.'

I gawped.

'Like, the wine god? You're the wine _god?_ '

Mr D glared.

'I am the deity of a whole range of things, Mr Orr. You should hope that wine is the only item of mine you _ever_ encounter.'

'But' I said, still confused. 'You're telling me _you're_ a god _?_ Seriously? Shouldn't you be up in the sky, eating grapes off a floating cloud or something?'

The lights in the room sputtered and dimmed. I gripped my seat tighter. In front of me, Mr D's form flickered in and out, like static on a bad TV set. I saw glimpses of a handsome man in a wreath of vines. Around him, suddenly I could see pale visions of men and women writhing on the ground, their faces enraptured in either pain or ecstasy. They were pulling at their own hair, ripping it out, their eyes wild and manic. Mr D spoke again, this time his voice growling like an animals.

' _I AM A GOD. I AM THE GOD OF MADNESS AND ECASTY. I CAN MAKE YOUR MIND NO LONGER YOUR OWN. I CAN FORCE YOUR BODY TO BETRAY YOU. AND IT IS MY PUNISHMENT TO SPEND YEARS HERE LISTENING TO DEMI-GOD HALF-WITS LIKE YOU, CASTOR ORR.'_

I tried shielding my eyes, but I couldn't block it out. It was like the images and sounds were being injected straight into my brain.

Suddenly, it all stopped. The room was calm again. I looked up, panting, to find Mr D nonchalantly sipping on other can of soda, as if nothing had happened.

He nodded towards the door.

'You may go.'


	8. Chapter 8

' _Yo, guys, I think we've got a newbie.'_

' _Must have got here last night.'_

' _Yeah. Do you reckon he'd notice if I took his shoes?'_

' _Leave the poor guy alone, Ross, he just got here.'_

' _Whatever.'_

' _He's kinda cute. In a scrawny way.'_

' _Wow, now that's a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one.'_

' _Geez, you go for anything with a pulse, Alyx.'_

' _Shut up.'_

' _Oh, I think he's waking up…'_

I stirred, and slowly opened my eyes. I sat up groggily, swaying slightly as the room around me swum into vision. I was in a large cabin, the kind you stay in at summer camp. Bunks lined the walls, and mattresses were strewn over the floor. The room looked like it had been hit by a cluster bomb filled with clothes and belongings. Clearly, tidiness was way down on the list of priorities here. If it was even on the list at all.

I jumped as I realised there was a group of people huddled around my bed, inspecting me as if I was a patient on a surgeon's table. A bunch of strangers gawping at me wouldn't have been my first pick on how to start the day. I would have preferred just a regular alarm clock.

I counted five of them, all high school aged kids wearing bright orange t-shirts with the words _CAMP HALF-BLOOD_ emblazoned in bold across the front.

Huh. So there went my hope that all the Greek god stuff had all been just a really, _really_ weird dream.

One of them cleared their throat. He was a short guy, probably about thirteen or so, with messy light brown hair and eyes that darted constantly from side to side, never resting on one thing for too long.

'Hey' he said by way of greeting, 'what size are your shoes?

 _As if this place couldn't get any weirder._

'Uhhh…'

'You don't have to answer that' another one of the group cut in. A girl this time. 'Just ignore Ross. We all do.'

She gave me a smile. 'I'm Alyx.'

OK, I'm going to be straight with you here. She was incredibly hot. Like, absolutely smokin'. Alyx had the whole Mediterranean look going on; olive skin, jet black hair that cascaded down her shoulders in ringlets, and brilliant green eyes that had a definite mischievous glint to them.

 _Woah, easy there Castor. You only just met the girl. Calm down._

'I'm Castor' I replied. Not exactly the wittiest of openings, but considering I was feeling like I'd just woken up trapped inside a zoo, I thought it was pretty good.

'Is sleeping normally a spectator event around here?' I asked.

The group laughed. Apart from Ross and Alyx, there were three others – two blonde headed campers who looked to be brother and sister, and a dark-skinned guy with dreadlocks who looked to be nearly twice my height.

'Sorry 'bout that man' said dreadlocks. 'It's just that we haven't had a new camper in ages. You've kinda come as a surprise.'

'A welcome surprise' Alyx added. She was still smiling.

 _Man, I need to wake up like this more often._

'I'm Fetuao, by the way' dreadlocks added, holding out his hand for me to shake. 'But call me Fetu, everyone does. And these two are Edvin and Freya. They're from Sweden, and they don't speak much English yet.'

The blondes, hearing Fetu say their names, nodded politely.

'I haven't been able to get a word out of them' Fetu confided in me. 'Some of the Athena kids can speak Swedish, but it all just sounds like funny noises to me.'

Freya tilted her head to look Fetu.

' _Kan du säga det igen?'_ she asked.

Fetu gave me an exasperated look, as if to say, _See what I mean?_

'Anyway' he continued. 'Welcome to Cabin 11. We hope you'll have an enjoyable stay here. Try to keep an eye on your wallet.'

The younger kid, Ross – the one who'd been eyeing up my Nikes earlier – grinned.

'Yeah, things have a way of going, uh, _missing_ here' he said cryptically. 'Would be a shame if any of your stuff was to get lost.'

Alyx punched him on the arm.

'If you even steal one of his _socks_ , Ross, I swear the next time you're preening in front of the Aphrodite cabin I'll pull your pants down so they can all get a look at your Superman undies' she said fiercely.

Fetu and I both cracked up, and we laughed even harder at the look of pure fear on Ross' face. It was pretty clear Alyx was no bluffer.

'So hold on a second' I said, once I'd finished laughing. 'You guys are all demi-gods, right? Who's your… what's the term for it? God parent?'

'Godly parent, yeah' Fetu answered. 'Cabin 11 is for the children of Hermes.'

'Hermes…' I racked my brains to try and recall who that was. 'Oh, the guy with wings on his feet?'

'Right' Fetu smiled. 'He's also the god of roads, speed, messengers, commerce, travel, thieves, merchants, athletes… and mail deliverers, actually. But the flying shoes thing is pretty awesome. I've asked for a pair so many times, but apparently they're limited edition.'

I nodded.

'So, Hermes is my Dad?'

Fetu shrugged.

'We don't know. He might be. Although to be honest, Castor, you don't really seem to fit the mould of a Hermes kid.'

I frowned.

'Then what am I doing here?'

'Cabin 11 doubles as the home for everyone who has yet to be claimed by their godly parent' Alyx explained. 'Don't worry, your Dad will let you know who he is pretty soon. The gods are way better on that than they used to be. Until that happens, you can just chill here.'

I could think of worse things than bunking with Alyx.

There came a knock at the door, and we all turned to see Percy saunter in.

'Wassup, my Cabin 11 fam' he said. 'Good to see you all. And Ross, if you steal one more of my Starbucks loyalty cards I will not be responsible for what happens next.'

'Hey Percy' said Fetu, clapping him on the back. 'Your friend is up.'

Percy turned to me.

'Well, hello there Sleeping Beauty' he crooned. 'Did you have a nice slumber? Sorry about the PJ's by the way, but they were the only thing I could find on short notice.'

I looked down and remembered that I was wearing a purple _Peppa Pig World Tour_ t-shirt. Fantastic.

'C'mon' Percy grinned. 'I'll find you some new clothes and then we'll head to breakfast where you can meet everyone. You're the first new camper we've had in months, everyone is really excited to meet you.'

'Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint my new fan club' I grumbled.

'That's the spirit' Percy replied, pretending like he didn't know what sarcasm sounded like.

'See you soon' Fetu said. 'Unless you get claimed before dinner, you'll be on our team for Capture the Flag tonight. I hope you're good with a sword.'

I thought back to what had happened the last time I'd picked up a sword.

'Uh, yeah, about that-'

Alyx flashed me another one of her dazzling smiles.

'I can't wait. I bet we make a great team.'

Suddenly, I forgot what I was saying.

'Let's go, Castor' Percy said, dragging me away. 'There's someone who I'd like you to meet.'


	9. Chapter 9

Camp Half-Blood was like no camp I'd ever been to, and I was still trying to work out whether that was amazing, or terrifying. But then again, up until now I hadn't disintegrated a demon cheerleader, ridden a flying horse, or been given a roasting by the god of wine, so I guess you've got to put things in perspective.

It was still early, and most campers were heading over to the amphitheatre for breakfast, idly chatting to one another about the kind of thing every normal teenager talks about; _'No way bro, I'm telling you, the hydra was THIS big. And it had four heads. No BS.'_

But all around, there were other incredible things going on. In the distance I could see what looked like training fields, with kids getting in some casual, early morning archery and javelin throwing practice.

 _Nothing like a weapons of death session to work up an appetite, I guess._

One kid was standing in front of a target with an apple perched on his head. He gave his friend, who was standing with a large composite bow about a hundred feet away, the thumbs up. The guy took aim with the bow. There was a twang, and swooshingnoise as the arrow sped through the air. The apple exploded, and there came an audible _thunk_ as the arrow embedded itself in the target. A couple of the other campers holding bows clapped.

Percy made a _tsk-tsk_ noise.

'Apollo kids are the biggest show offs' he told me, sounding only slightly irritated that someone had been a couple of inches away from taking a projectile _in the face._ 'Honestly, shooting an apple off someone's head is so cliché. Give us something fresh, already, y'know?'

 _Is he joking? He has to be joking. Oh god, I don't think he was joking._

I gawped as Percy led me past a large strawberry field; out amongst the plants, a kid with what I guessed were goat's legs was jamming out on some pipes, and around him the vines where literally swaying to and fro in time with the melody.

Percy caught were I was looking and grinned.

'Pretty cool, huh?' he asked. 'Jeremy's a satyr, and they are _insanely_ good on those pipes. One time they all got to together and did a performance of _Viva la Vida._ We had three people faint, it was _that_ good.'

I laughed. 'I might leave off putting in a request, then.'

'Probs a good idea' Percy replied. 'Although I heard the wood nymphs can do a pretty mean _Princess of China.'_

Percy had taken me first to find some new clothes, so I wouldn't look I was dressed in clothes stolen from the bedroom of an eight year old girl. He'd snagged me an orange camp t-shirt from the gift shop, and some beach shorts from the Poseidon cabin, which, according to Percy, had an unlimited supply of them. But he still hadn't told me who this 'someone' we were meeting was.

'Hey man' I asked tentatively. 'Is there anything I should know about this person? The last time you took me to meet someone…'

I paused, thinking of Mr D and the visions of the people writhing around him.

'Yeah man, I know, and that's my bad' Percy replied sympathetically. 'I mean, Mr D is a total nut, but with you being new and all I thought he'd go easy on you. I still can't work out why he rode you so hard. He's normally too lazy to even stop his Pac-man game to talk to a new camper.'

'Pac-man?' I asked.

'Never mind. But don't worry, this person's nothing like Mr D. I'm sure you two will get on like a house on fire.'

'As in, there's a real chance of my imminent death?'

Percy laughed, and gave me a friendly punch on the shoulder. Which hurt, considering my lack of muscle tone.

'Seriously, does your sarcasm come with an off-switch?' he asked. 'C'mon, she's just round here.'

Percy had led me to another one of the cabins. It was a big, gray building that kinda looked like a massive gardening shed. Above the doors was a carving of an owl. Its large eyes seemed to be sizing me up, like the principal of your new school does, and was finding me seriously lacking.

I glared back at the owl.

 _Stop judging me. Stupid owl._

Percy gave me a weird look.

'Did you just mutter something to the owl?' he asked. 'You know it's not real, right?'

 _Crap._

'Uh, I was just… checking' I answered lamely.

'Right' Percy said, clearly unconvinced. 'Anyway, she's in here. Be warned, this place is basically a laboratory for Brainiac's. If you can't think of anything smart to say, best not to say anything at all. I read that once on the back of a _Happy Meal_ , so you know its solid advice.'

 _I really don't think you should be worried about ME saying anything stupid, Percy._

'OK, let's go' I said. I was eager to get this over with so I could hit up breakfast – man, I was so hungry even the food from my old high school cafeteria was starting to seem good.

Percy opened the doors, and led me into the cabin.

You could tell right away that this was a place where the people took themselves pretty seriously. Where the Hermes cabin had been messy and chaotic, this cabin had a definite order to it. Everything was set out logically, in a way that made empirical sense.

Much of the cabin was taken up by workbenches, which were covered in maps and diagrams, and piled high with half-finished models and designs. Around the tables were lines of bookshelves, overflowing with scrolls, large tomes, parchment and paperbacks. Pushed to the very side, as if they were an afterthought, were bunk beds. I got the feeling that the campers here were more than used to pulling all-nighters.

The cabin had a kind of frenzied atmosphere. Everyone was rushing to complete something; one kid was trying to put the final touches on his replica of the Statue of Liberty, with added working wings, while another was in the middle of drawing a complicated diagram to work out what he should have for breakfast.

'Wow' I said to Percy, taking it all in. 'This place is _intense_.'

Percy nodded, and was about to reply when he was cut off.

'We prefer to think of it as, _motivated'_ came a voice from behind us. 'Children of Athena are driven. Successful. Which is more than I can say for _some_ people.'

 _Whoops._

Percy grimaced. His whole body language told me, _'We're in for it now.'_

'Annabeth' he smiled. 'We were just saying how much we love it here. What could be more fun than 24/7 study, am I right?'

The girl who had spoken did not look like she was buying it. She had blonde hair swept up in a ponytail, and was honestly pretty hot, but the look in her stormy gray eyes made me take a step back.

 _OK, this is not someone I wanna mess with._

'Sure you were' she replied, her eyes continuing to bore holes into both of us. 'I mean, I don't expect you to understand the benefits of studying 24/Anything, Seaweed Brain.'

Percy shrugged.

'Guilty as charged' he grinned. 'Good thing you study enough for the both of us, Wise Girl.'

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

'Whatever, I give up.'

She turned her gaze on me. Her scrutiny felt like a spotlight; I could tell she was taking in every inch of me.

'So, who's this?' she asked. 'Wait – don't tell me. He's the new demi-god, right? The one from Pennsylvania Chiron sent you to get.'

'Correct, as usual' Percy replied. 'Annabeth Chase, meet Castor Orr, son of… well, that's TBC. But he's a hell of a guy.'

I smiled. 'Great to meet you.'

Annabeth did not return my smile.

'Castor. Good to have you here' she replied, sounding like it was the exact opposite of a good thing that I was here.

 _Geez, I can almost feel the cold coming off this girl. What did I do?_

Percy kept talking, apparently oblivious.

'Castor absolutely destroyed this Mormolyceia, when we were back in Penn. You should have seen it. She was like ' _I'm gonna eat you alive'_ , but Castor was all like _'Not today'_ , then he just did a back-slide and skewered her like a kebab. Man, I should've filmed it, it totally would have gone camp-viral.'

Annabeth raised her eyebrows.

'Impressive. Had you used a sword before?'

'No' I admitted.

Percy clapped me on the back. 'See? He's a natural, I'm telling you.'

'Wow' Annabeth said, her tone less than impressed. 'I'll look forward to seeing you in action tonight, Castor.'

 _Why am I getting the feeling that tonight's going to be a long and painful experience?_

Off in the distance, we heard a horn blast.

'Oh man, final call for breakfast' Percy said to me. 'We'd better go. The food here is pretty awesome, you don't wanna miss it.'

He made to leave, but then turned quickly and gave Annabeth a kiss on the cheek.

'See you later' he told her.

 _Oh man. They're together. It just gets better and better._

'See you tonight' Annabeth called after us.

 _Not if I'm lucky_ , I thought. Unless I was very much mistaken, Annabeth Chase wanted to kill me.


	10. Chapter 10

I'd had an interesting day at Camp Half-Blood. Well, _interesting_ is an understatement. I'd gone to a basket weaving course taught by a wood nymph, tried and failed to throw a spear through a straw dummy of what looked to be Ryan Reynolds, and struggled through some beginner's Ancient Greek. So, yeah, I guess interesting pretty much covers it.

At this point, I was just glad that it was time for dinner. At least I could have a good final meal before someone tried to poke a sword in me.

I headed into the dining pavilion, a big open roofed structure where everyone ate, following the crowd of hungry campers.

'Hey, Castor, over here!'

I turned to see Alyx waving in my direction, her dazzling smile acting like a beacon to guide me over.

 _Well, I don't need to be asked twice._

She was sitting with the rest of the Hermes cabin, including those who I recognised from that morning's welcome party around my bunk.

I saw the unmistakeable dreadlocks of Fetu, who was closely following Ross as he shuffled a deck of cards about. Fetu pointed at a card, which Ross flipped over gleefully. Fetu swore loudly, before grudgingly handing over a large gold coin. Edvin patted him on the back in a gesture of solidarity – it didn't matter what language you spoke, getting scammed out of your money was universal.

At the head of the table were two guys I hadn't seen before. They looked like they could be twins, and were chatting to one another excitedly. It was hard to tell, but it kinda looked like one of them was holding a firework.

I made my way through the dining pavillion towards the Hermes table, ducking underneath a fork that someone had thrown like a javelin, and picking my way around a couple of buff looking campers who were in the middle of a heated argument over who would win in a fight between Aqua-man and a two hundred pound octopus that could fire lasers from its eyes.

I also caught Percy's eye, who gave me a thumbs up. Well, at least Percy was on my side, even if his girlfriend wasn't.

When I arrived at the Hermes table, the group greeted me enthusiastically. Fetu budged over to give me a seat on the bench.

'Great to see you, Castor' he grinned, punching me on the shoulder by way of friendly greeting, which left me with a dead arm. 'Dude, we've been hearing all about how you completely _obliterated_ that Mormolyceia. I'm looking forward to seeing you show-off your bad ass swordplay skills tonight when we take the flag.'

Alyx nodded eagerly in agreement.

'We haven't been on the winning team in ages' she complained. 'But I have a feeling our luck's about to change.'

All of the Hermes kids turned to look at me expectantly, like I was supposed to give them a stirring _Lord of the Rings_ style speech. Instead, I just smiled weakly.

 _Oh crap. There's no way I don't come out of tonight looking like an idiot. But hopefully, an alive idiot._

'So' I said, looking to steer the conversation in another direction, 'what's for dinner in this place anyway? Roast Pegasus?'

Fetu stared at me like I'd just said, _Man, you know who my favourite artist is? Katy Perry._

'Dude' Fetu said 'that's not funny. Percy would probably turn you into a shellfish or something if he heard you cracking that joke.'

'He can do that?' I asked incredulously.

Ross leaned in conspiratorially.

'I heard that once, he turned a guy into an anemone.'

Fetu sighed. 'No you moron, he turned a guy into an _enemy._ Not the same thing.'

Ross frowned.

'Wait, what?'

'Anyway' Fetu continued, ignoring Ross' confusion. 'Dinner here is _epic._ I mean, the food's great and all, but watch this.'

He picked up one of the fancy looking cups on the table, and said to it, 'Pepsi.'

There was a fizzing noise and faint pop, like the sound of soda can being opened, and Fetu's cup filled itself up with frothing Pepsi.

'That is awesome' I agreed, wondering how I was still able to be impressed after arriving at the camp on a _flying horse._

I picked up a cup and filled it with Sprite, which simply appeared in the cup as if being poured by an invisible waiter. Man, talk about a soda fountain.

Fetu hadn't been lying about the food either. There was an entire smorgasbord on offer, from BBQ, to fresh bread and fruit. I piled my plate high, but as I was about to sit down, Alyx gave me nudge.

'Not yet' she said, pointing at a brazier in which a fire crackled merrily, shooting sparks into the night sky. 'You need to offer a portion of your meal to the gods.'

'Great, so they need a portion of food as well?' I complained. 'Do the gods even like grilled chicken?'

Alyx rolled her eyes.

'Just throw a bit of your food into the fire, OK? And say a prayer while you're doing it' Alyx told me, her green eyes glinting in the firelight. 'You never know. It might be answered.'

I shrugged.

'Sure.'

I headed over to the fire, letting the warmth wash over me. I threw some vegetables into the brazier, which I wasn't going to eat anyway, and looked up into at the stars.

 _Hey Dad,_ I thought, feeling stupid. _Mind noticing me anytime soon?_

I didn't get any reply from the stars. I wondered if they were giant balls of gas, burning millions of miles away like I learned in science class, or if they were sparkles on Zeus' rain jacket or something.

 _Whatever._

I went back to my seat.

At the head of the pavilion sat Mr D. He was lounging back in his chair, sipping another Diet Coke, and looking like he'd rather be literally anywhere else than here. He took a big swig, belched loudly, and then raised his voice to speak to the campers.

'Everyone, sit down and shut up; I've got something to say' he drawled lazily, crumpling the can between his fingers and quickly pulling another one out of thin air. 'Now, as you're all no doubt aware, tonight is Capture the Flag.'

The campers roared their appreciation, banging on the tables till the plates and cutlery rattled loudly and threatened to leap off the tables' altogether. Mr D raised his hands for silence once more.

'Yes, yes, it's all very exciting' he muttered, sounding the exact opposite of excited. 'You all get to run around the woods and try to murder each other. What fun.'

I threw a surprised look at Fetu.

'Is he joking?' I asked, trying to sound casual.

Fetu made a see-saw motion with hand, sign language for _'kinda.'_

'Who'll be leading Blue team tonight?' Mr D asked disinterestedly.

I caught a glimpse of blonde hair as Annabeth stood up from the Athena table.

'Athena will lead Blue team tonight' she proclaimed loudly, her Athena team mates whooping excitedly. 'We'll be leading a coalition of cabins Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Ares, and Apollo.'

Fetu groaned.

'Annabeth has put together a _killer_ team tonight' he explained to me. 'She's got the Big Three cabins, as well as the best fighters and archers. This is gonna be tough.'

'Yeah, and I don't think most of our allies are up to scratch' Ross commented dryly. 'I mean, the Hypnos table is already taking a quick nap to get over the exhaustion of dinner.'

Mr D was clearing his throat to speak again.

'And who'll be leading Red team?' he asked, stifling a yawn.

One of the guys at the head of our table got to his feet.

'Hermes!' he announced proudly. 'We don't care who you've got on your team, Annabeth, we're still gonna kick your butt.'

We all laughed. At least we had bravado going for us.

'We're taking all the other cabins' our team leader told Mr D. 'Let's do this thing.'

For the first time all night, Mr D smiled.

'Break out the swords and spears, boys' and girls' he called. 'Usual rules: no intentional maiming, and try to avoid stabbing the facial area. Apart from that, you kids go for it. Now get playing.'


	11. Chapter 11

'Alright everyone, listen up.'

At the front of our group, Travis Stoll clapped his hands to get our attention. Next to him stood his almost identical brother, Connor, who was gripping a large red flag that whipped to and fro in the wind. Emblazoned upon it in black paint was a staff, with two intertwined snakes wrapped around it. I recognised it vaguely as the symbol painted onto the sides of ambulances. In the flickering light of our torches, it looked pretty bad-ass.

Connor and Travis shared the same elvish features as the rest of the Hermes kids, with upturned eyebrows and sarcastic smiles. Fetu had told me that both of them were formidable fighters, holding their own with Percy in some pretty major battles. They joked around with each other, but you could tell they meant business.

'Athena cabin thinks that tonight is as good as won' Travis continued, once the babble of voices had died down. 'But we're going to show those Einstein's that even they can be wrong.'

The assembled campers cheered, raising their weapons in a salute.

The sword I'd been given felt awkward in my hand. At least this time I'd got my hands on a short sword, but I was still so clumsy with it that there was a good chance that by the end of the night it would end up sticking out of me like a giant hypodermic needle. Its bronze blade glinted wickedly at me, as if to say, _'Bro, I know I'm about as much use to you as a can-opener. Try not to die.'_

Once we'd all left the pavilion, there had been tables prepared for us, laden down with weapons and armour. It was like a Wall-Mart for murderers; available to us were spears, javelins, maces, crossbows, and oddly a rubber chicken, which I noticed one of the campers had tucked into his belt.

 _What have I got myself into?_

I felt weighed down by my armour. I'd grabbed a red plumed helmet that fell over my eyes so I could hardly see, a breastplate that made me feel like I was wearing an overstuffed fat suit, and a round shield that took all the arm strength I didn't have just to keep up in the air. Still, I was prepared to take every piece of protection I could get my hands on.

'We've got a new camper with us tonight' Travis was saying. He smiled and pointed at me. 'Castor Orr, as yet unclaimed, will be fighting on our side. Can everyone try their best to make sure he doesn't lose more than a couple of fingers? No more than two, OK?'

Everyone laughed, and I cracked a smile, hoping no-one could see the panic in my eyes.

We were standing outside of the forest that surrounded Camp Half-Blood. The trees were thick and huddled closely together, as if they weren't too keen on anyone from the outside coming in.

If it had been up to me, I would have stayed the hell away from the forest. Rule one of an evil looking forest: you're an idiot if you go in there. Does any story of kids deciding to go into a creepy forest end well? No, didn't think so.

 _But hey, what do I know, right? You want me to go into a forest that probably has trees that will try and eat my face off? Sounds like fun, count me in._

'We need some our toughest campers on defence' Travis announced, before pointing at a bunch of burly looking guys and girls in tank tops and camo. 'Hephaestus, you guys are going to protect the flag. You can bet that Athena's gonna hit it hard, so be alert.'

They nodded their agreement, their bulging arms folded across their chests in a casual display of confidence. I didn't envy the other team – trying to break through the Hesphaestus kids looked about as easy as tunnelling through concrete with a spork.

'Yo, T-Dog' piped up a curly haired Latino camper. 'I feel like my skills for destruction are better put to use on the offense.'

The guy grinned and clicked his fingers as he spoke, and a ball of flame sprung to life in his hand, curling around his skin.

'Some guys just wanna see the world burn, am I right?' he asked, the fire flickering in the breeze.

My mouth fell open in shock.

Travis chuckled.

'I'd never put an anarchist like you on defence, Leo. You'll be with the strike team. I've gotta feeling we're gonna need to blow some stuff up tonight.'

'Happy to help' Leo replied, giving Travis a big thumbs up.

'Butch, you stay with the flag too' Travis decided, talking to a burly looking guy with a rainbow tattoo. 'And the Hypnos campers can set up their sleeping bags round it. You never know, they might trip an enemy up or something.'

Travis continued to give out orders, before finally looking over where I was standing. He sized me up for a moment.

'Castor, you stick with Fetu and the other Hermes kids on border patrol' he said, coming to a decision. 'It's the easiest job – just walk round the creek and gun for any blue plume you see. Oh, and don't let them bring our flag over or you'll be on dishes for a month, got it?'

I nodded. Fetu clapped me on the back supportively.

'Don't worry Castor, we've got you' he reassured me. 'Just keep an eye out for Cabin 5. Those guys take Capture the Flag _very_ seriously.'

In the distance, a horn blew, and everyone around me roared with excitement. A few seconds later, I could make out a faint reply as from somewhere in the forest, the blue team issued their challenge.

'Go, go, go!' Travis shouted at us, his sword pointed at the forest. 'Let's break them into so many pieces not even Daedulus couldn't put 'em back together!'

I assumed in demi-god talk, that was a sick burn.

'Follow us' Fetu told me, 'and stay close.'

The six of us – Fetu, Ross, Alyx, the twins, and myself, headed into the woods. The trees blocked out most of what little light came from the full moon overhead, and I almost tripped over every second step, making myself look like an idiot.

The forest was spooky. I swore I could _feel_ things moving about in the shadows, just out of sight, but no one else seemed to be noticing anything unusual so I stayed quiet.

Eventually we reached a river, which lazily ran through the middle of the forest.

'OK, we're here now guys' Fetu announced grandly.

'Where do you reckon the red team are?' I asked, my voice coming out as more high pitched and nervous than I intended.

Alyx threw me an impish grin.

'Don't worry, I'll protect you' she said, cheekily, the mischievous glint back in her eye. 'If you get scared, you can hide behind me.'

It was an offer I would have legitimately considered, if Alyx hadn't been the most gorgeous girl I'd ever met, and one I was very keen to impress.

'Just make sure you've got a camera ready' I replied, trying to inject my voice with a bravado I did not really feel. 'You'll be studying my moves in class for years to come.'

Ross, who was carrying a long hooked spear, raised his eyebrows.

'Can't wait' he said, his tone sceptical. 'It'll be great to finally see some of these moves we've been hearing so much about. Is one of them the infamous 'Run-back-to-camp-crying'? That one's pretty deadly.'

Edvin, who'd up until now had been silent, pointed at me and said something to Freya in Swedish, who burst out laughing.

 _OK, well that's reassuring._

Fetu glared at them.

'Easy, you guys' he said, disapprovingly. 'It's Castor's first time. We all sucked on our first go – I seem to remember finding you hiding up a tree, Ross, and it took a good half hour for us to convince you to come down.'

That shut Ross up. He glared at Fetu.

'I was setting a trap' he muttered.

Fetu rolled his eyes.

'Sure you were. Anyway, we've gotten distracted. We need to split up and patrol the river. Remember, if they get the flag across it, they win, so under no circumstances are we to let that happen.'

Fetu gave us all a hard stare, and we all nodded our agreement.

'Good' Fetu went on. 'OK, so Ross, you're with me. I want to keep an eye on you. Freya and Edvin, go you guys go together, and Castor – you go with Alyx. She's one of Hermes cabin's best fighters. She'll keep you safe.'

Fetu winked at me. I silently thanked him for his excellent wingman skills.

Alyx punched me on the shoulder playfully.

'This will be fun' she said. 'But don't get in my way. I can go… a little crazy.'

 _What the heck is that supposed to mean?_

Fetu clapped his hands together.

'Alright, good hunting everyone. I'll buy anyone who manages to take out an Ares camper a whole box of ambrosia at the camp store. Let's move.'


	12. Chapter 12

I was torn.

On the one hand, it was awesome to be alone with Alyx. She had her dark, wavy hair tied up in a ponytail that swished from side to side like a pendulum as she walked. It kinda reminded me of when hypnotists in old fashioned movies swung a watch back and forth, saying _'You are getting sleepy, very sleepy. Now, when I snap my fingers you will wake up and pee on that lamppost like a dog.'_

I blinked.

 _Snap out of it._

Even in the dark, I could still make out Alyx's green eyes as they flicked about, checking for enemy campers hiding out in the shrub. As much as I hated to admit it, she pulled of the whole 'armoured warrior' look off a heck of a lot better than I did. Normally bubbly and smiling, tonight in the woods Alyx looked fierce.

On the other hand, I would much rather have been alone with Alex in a setting that didn't require us both to be carrying deadly weapons, and where I was jumping at every cracked twig because I thought it was an Ares camper jumping out, ready to bludgeon me to death with a rubber chicken.

A bush rustled and I just about jumped out of my skin, dropping my sword on my foot in the process.

Alyx turned around, and put a finger to her lips, mouthing the words, _'Shut. Up.'_

I hopped around madly on one foot, trying to remember all of the Greek swear words that Ross had taught me earlier.

'What's the point of this military-grade radio silence anyway?' I asked Alyx in a whisper, still nursing my toe. 'We've been here for ages, and we haven't seen a single person from the enemy team.'

Alyx rolled her eyes.

'Well, how long do you think that will last if you keep stomping around like a crazed gorilla on speed?' she asked, sarcastically. Or at least, it sounded sarcastic. I wasn't sure what a crazed gorilla on speed looked like.

The night was eerily quiet. Occasionally there would be the faint scream off in the distance, probably of a camper who was losing a vital limb. No biggie. But apart from that, the woods around us were almost peaceful.

'So, Alyx' I said, trying to sound casual. 'How long have you been at Camp Half-Blood?'

Alyx thought for a second.

'A little over two years now' she replied, her voice softening. 'I'm not a full-year camper though. Hermes isn't one of the really important gods, which means that as his kid I can lead a life that's almost normal. But I love it here. Where else could I play Capture-the-flag with real weapons?'

'Good point.'

 _Man, Health and Safety would have a heart attack if they ever found out about this place._

'So, you think I'll be able to have a half-way normal life too?' I asked her.

She shrugged.

'Probably. Odds are your dad was just some minor god, one you probably haven't even heard of. That means monsters won't be a huge problem for you, unlike for some other kids who get swamped as soon as they step outside these borders. You can spend your summers at camp getting training, and the rest of the year at home. It's a pretty sweet deal.'

I nodded. That sounded good to me.

From a thick patch of trees came rustling and the sound of heavy footfalls. I could hear deep voices arguing indistinctly about something.

Alyx readied her weapons, and motioned for me to get behind her. The noises got louder, and then out of the trees emerged a group of enemy campers. They'd been bickering amongst themselves, but when they saw us they brightened up. One of them recognised me, and pointed me out to his team mates, who grinned evilly.

 _I've got a bad feeling about this…_

Alyx carried two swords, one in each hand, and as the group of hulking blue team campers approached, she casually twirled them, like deadly conductor's batons. The bronze blades glinted in the moonlight, the metal cutting through the night air with an audible _hiss_ as Alyx swung them expertly round her head in neat circles.

I took a step back. I did _not_ want to be in the firing line when Alyx went into full ninja mode.

Seeing Alyx's performance, the blue team campers stopped in their tracks, raising their weapons defensively in her direction. There were four of them, armed to the teeth and almost bursting out of their armour with muscle, but they eyed Alyx warily, throwing each other glances as if to say, _'You go first. No, YOU go first.'_

I couldn't understand why they were so scared of her. They looked like they could snap Alyx in half just by flexing a bicep, but they were looking at her as if she was a bomb that could go off at any second.

'Hey boys' Alyx greeted them, in a cheery tone. 'Lovely night. What brings you out to our neck of the woods, Raymond?'

One of them, presumably Raymond, cleared his throat nervously.

'Do the math, Alyx' he said, his voice gruff, with only the slightest hint of a tremor betraying his trepidation. 'You're not winning this one. There are four of us, and I don't think your twig of a boyfriend over there is gonna be much help. No offence, bro.'

'None taken' I replied good-naturedly. Alyx threw me a killer stare.

'I mean' I said quickly, trying to come off as threatening as possible, 'I hope you're hungry for pain. Because that's the only item on tonight's menu.'

There was a pause as the four of them looked at me, their faces expressionless under the rims of their helmets. I swear I could literally hear crickets chirping.

Then they burst out laughing. One of them put down his spear so he could double over with mirth, his shoulders shaking with the exertion. Another was pounding his friend on the back as he was laughing, almost running the guy through with his sword in the process.

 _This place is really doing wonders for my self-esteem._

Eventually they sobered up, and Raymond grinned at us, his confidence seemingly restored.

'Look, Alyx, we're really just here for Castor; Annabeth's orders, you know how it is' he said, his tone long suffering. 'So why not just make it simple for all of us, and hand him over. We promise to be gentle.'

One of his team mates snickered.

'Kinda' he muttered, and the group chuckled menacingly.

Alyx bared her teeth in a snarl that was almost feral.

'If you want him, you'll have to go through me.'

Raymond sighed, then shrugged.

'If that's the way you wanna play it' he said, in a resigned tone. He unsheathed his sword, and motioned to his team mates who fanned out behind him in a loose formation. 'Please don't take this personally.'

Alyx laughed.

'I hope you won't take it personally when you're shacked up in the hospital tent for the next week' she taunted him.

Raymond didn't reply. Instead he moved his hand, very faintly, signalling to the other blue plumes. I barely caught what he was doing. Alyx, on the other hand, sprang into action.

In a couple of bounds she cleared the space between her and the enemy campers, on was on them before they had chance to register what was happening.

Raymond barely had time to bring up his sword to block a scything blow from Alyx as she swept both swords up toward his head. There was a loud _clang_ as the blades collided and Raymond stepped back, frantically countering Alyx's follow up strike to his chest.

Alyx was like a one person whirlwind, her limbs a blur as she met the cuts and jabs of the four enemy campers, and replied in kind, always keeping them on the back foot, giving them no time to rally around Raymond and organise themselves.

Alyx ducked underneath a powerful sword swing, and sunk the hilt of her own sword into the guy's gut. He buckled inwards, wheezing, and Alyx leapt over him, kicking aside a spear jab and knocking another guy over the head with the flat of her sword.

Raymond was frantically barking orders, using his superior size and reach to keep Alyx at bay. He was an impressive fighter, and met Alyx's blistering assault with a steely calm even as he found himself losing ground.

He motioned to one of his crew, pointing at me.

'Get Castor!' he yelled, jumping over Alyx's blade as she tried to sweep his feet out from under him. 'Leave Alyx to me.'

The guy nodded, and turned towards me.

'Castor!' Alyx yelled, her voice barely audible over the frenzied sounds of her duel with Raymond. 'Run!'


	13. Chapter 13

I paused for a second, unsure if I should stay and help Alyx, or follow her advice and get the heck outta there. She was locked in a furious hand-to-hand battle with Raymond, giving as good as she got, parrying and thrusting with wild abandon. Her face was set in a huge grin as she fought, which was clearly freaking Raymond out a little bit as he tried to gain the upper hand.

But I had my own problems. The guy coming at me was a head taller than me, and about twice as big, reaching the point where his muscles were starting to build muscle of their own. He grinned at me, revealing a set of crooked teeth, stained yellow, probably because his favourite meal was raw meat on a stick. He held a long sword loosely in his right hand, but it was clear that he knew how to use it.

I glanced down at my own sword, which in comparison looked like an oversized tooth-pick. I had about as much chance of beating this guy in a sword fight as I did of winning an Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing.

 _Live to fight another day, I guess. Peace out._

I turned and ran headlong into the forest, branches whipping past my face as I scrambled to find some safety in the darkness. Heroic? No. But I've never claimed to be one. In my book, anyone who willingly goes into a fight that they know they're going to lose is a moron.

I had absolutely no idea where I was going, but I could hear my pursuer cursing and cutting at the undergrowth with his sword as he came after me, and that was scary enough to force me to keep running. If he ever caught me, he'd demolish me as fast as a chocolate protein shake.

One thing I will say for being scrawny: you can wriggle through tough terrain much more easily. I hopped over fallen logs, and scrambled through dense patches of trees and bush pretty quickly, while my pursuer had all of the grace of a rampaging elephant, attempting to simply force his way through anything standing in his way. Surprisingly, trying to cut through an entire forest was slow going. Before long, the sounds of his blade hitting wood, frustrated grunts and calls of, _'Come back here so I can kill you!'_ faded into the night air, leaving nothing but crickets and the flap of wings overhead as the nocturnal wild-life decided to get out of bed.

All of a sudden, I got a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I was being watched.

I turned around quickly, afraid that the blue team camper who'd been chasing me had somehow managed to double back and sneak up on me. I took in my surroundings, trying to find the source of my unease. Then I saw him.

In a small grove, clear of trees, a guy I'd never seen before sat on a boulder, as if he'd been there for ages, waiting for me. Which was clearly impossible, because no-one could have predicted I'd end up here, in the middle of nowhere, far away from the action.

He was young, maybe early twenties, and aggressively good-looking. He wore the same style of Greek armour that everyone had donned for tonight's game, so I assumed he was a camper who I just hadn't met yet. He didn't have a helmet though, so I couldn't tell if he was my enemy, or if we allies.

The weirdest thing about him was his hairstyle. At the front, his blond hair flowed in long, almost girlish locks that draped over his face. But at the back, his head was completely bald. Still, I'd seen guys at my school sport even crazier haircuts, so I gave him a pass.

He was watching me, and there was something about his gaze that unnerved me.

I'd ditched my shield somewhere in the woods, but I still had my sword, and I drew it out of its sheath, the metal sliding out with a faint _hisss._

The guy laughed.

'Now, now. There's no need for that, Castor. I mean you no harm.'

I made no move to put my sword away. It made me feel a bit better to be holding a weapon, even though I knew that if it came to a fight, the sword would be about as much use to me as a chopstick.

'Who are you?' I asked, surprising myself at how steady my voice was. 'What team are you on?'

The guy seemed to find that last question very amusing, laughing quietly to himself.

'What team am I on?' he repeated, pondering the question. 'Well, I guess I'm on my own team, when it comes down to it. But I'm also on yours, Castor. So put the sword down, and we can talk.'

There was a pause, as we both looked at each other, and then I reluctantly put the sword back in its sheath. The guy smiled.

'Good' he said, happily. 'Trust is the foundation of any relationship, don't you think?'

'You didn't answer my first question' I replied, not moving any closer. 'Who are you? You don't seem like a camper.'

He regarded me for a second, his blue eyes dancing with amusement.

'Names are powerful things, Castor' he said after a moment, as if that answered my question. It didn't.

'I'm not a big fan of talking in riddles' I told him. 'And I'm sick of people choosing to keep me in the dark. Why can't anyone round here answer a simple question, without trying to depart some Yoda-like wisdom?'

The guy frowned, his perfect features crinkling up for a second.

'I don't know who this 'Yoda' is' he said. Clearly not a big _Star Wars_ fan then. 'But I hear you, Castor. I know you want answers. You've been left with only questions for too long. It won't do. So I'm here, despite being told to stay away.'

'Who told you to stay away?' I asked. 'And how do you know my name?'

'Oh, I know everything about you, Castor. I know that in third-grade you punctured Danny Letterman's basketball, but then let Liam O'Neil take the blame.'

 _Woah. How does he know that?_

'I know that before your victory over the Mormolyceia a few days ago, you'd only ever been in one fight, and that was with a girl a year younger than you, and you lost.'

'OK, yeah, but she was big for her age.'

The guy ignored me, talking over me.

'And I know that your mother, Kate Orr, is one of the most beautiful, intelligent, quick-witted, and caring mortals I have ever known.'

My breath caught in my throat.

'You say mortal like you're not one' I said slowly, something finally dawning on me.

He smiled at me, his face kind.

'Castor, I am Caerus, youngest divine son of Zeus, god of opportunity and luck. And I am your father.'

My breath came back to me in a rush, and I gasped loudly, almost losing my balance and toppling over.

Caerus hopped off his rock and came over, placing his hand on my shoulder.

'I know it is a lot to take in all at once. Give yourself some time to adjust.'

I knocked his hand off my shoulder. Now that the shock had worn off, I remembered all of the pent-up feelings I had towards this father who I'd never met.

'Where were you?' I asked, my voice rising, anger beginning to seep in. 'You left Mom. You left me. Fifteen years, and not a single word. And now you just show up out of thin air? _What's wrong with you?'_

Caerus' voice was pained.

'There are rules, Castor. Rules that not even I could break. It wasn't my decision to leave you. I had no choice.'

'Sounds exactly like the kind of excuse every dead-beat dad comes up with' I sneered. 'Nice try. But I'm not buying it.'

'Castor-' Caerus began, but I cut him off.

'Well, it was so nice of you to pop in and see how I'm doing' I said, my voice hard-edged with sarcasm. 'I've nearly been killed multiple times in the last few days, I just found out that the Greek gods and exist and that one of them is my dad, and now I'm just off to probably get stabbed in the neck with a javelin. But apart from that, I'm doing great, thanks for asking.'

Caerus was giving me a look. To my annoyance, he seemed to still be finding the whole situation pretty funny.

'You are just like your mother' he told me. 'And like me too, come to that. Feisty, cutting, a free spirit, unwilling to be told what to do, preferring instead to go it alone. These are powerful traits, Castor. Don't underestimate them.'

I was so confused, that for once in my life I didn't know what to say. I looked at Caerus, taking in his blonde hair and blue eyes that were so similar to mine.

 _My dad is a Greek god. That would have made for an interesting career's day._

Caerus rummaged in his robes, and pulled something out.

It was a long razor, made from the same bronze as my sword. I gave Caerus a questioning look.

'I want you to have this' he said, closing the razor so it fitted neatly into my hand. 'It is one of my symbols. Like the razor, Castor, life is often balanced on a sharp edge. There is a fleeting instant in which opportunities appear, and disappear. I may not be as powerful as my father, Zeus, but I know, and as you do too Castor, that there come moments when, if the opportunity is seized, your life can change forever. You took such a moment when you decided to go with Percy. Another, when you fought the Mormolyceia. You can see the crossroads of opportunity better than anyone else. And that is no small gift.'

The sky above rumbled ominously, loud peals of thunder reverberating through the valley.

Caerus looked up sharply.

'I must leave you, Castor' he said, his tone regretful. 'I wish we had more time. But remember, you and I, we are the great opportunists. Seize the opportunities that are coming to you, Castor, because a second-chance is seldom granted. Camp Half-Blood is going to need your foresight in the days to come.'

'What are you talking about?' I asked, frantically. 'Don't go. I have so many questions.'

'I'm afraid I can't stay' Caerus said. 'But I will tell you that there are a group of campers coming this way, and they're looking for you. They are led by the blonde haired daughter of Athena.'

I groaned.

'What is her problem?' I said, exasperated. 'Why does she want to kill me?'

Caerus shrugged.

'You remind her of someone in her past. Earn her respect tonight, Castor, and you will have an ally for life.'

 _Great, now I'm getting girl advice from a classical era deity._

Before me, Caerus was fading. He was becoming translucent, like a ghost, and I could see right through him.

'Good bye' he said, his voice faint, like the wind gently rustling through leaves. 'Choose wisely.'

'Wait!' I yelled at him. But it was too late. He was gone. I looked at the razor in my hand. It felt perfect, balancing there in my palm.

From the trees, I could hear muffled voices berating each other.

' _I can't believe you lost him.'_

' _It wasn't my fault, that guy could run like Usain Bolt, I swear.'_

' _Shut up, both of you. This is supposed to be a stealth mission.'_

I flicked the razor open and grinned. Time for the hunted to become the hunter. Consider the opportunity seized.


	14. Chapter 14

I ducked behind a tree and did my best to look plant-like as three Ares campers charged into the clearing, swords at the ready. I recognised one of them as the guy who'd chased me through the woods. I noticed with satisfaction that his face currently had the lumpy texture of porridge, due to an impressive assortment of bruises – presumably courtesy of being on the wrong end of an overhanging branch or three. At least there was some silver lining for him: when you're that ugly, it's kinda hard to get any worse.

The three of them stood there awkwardly for a bit, blinking stupidly.

'You told us he was here' one said, accusingly, before adding the obvious, 'But he isn't here.'

'Yeah' the other agreed, swinging his sword around in a frustrated figure-of-eight. 'I wanna hit something.'

Porridge-face huffed in annoyance.

'He's gotta be round here somewhere. He probably chickened out when he saw us coming, and ran up a tree or something. We'll get him.'

He cupped his hand and shouted out into the forest, 'You hear that Castor? We're coming for you. And when we catch you, I'm gonna give you a makeover. With my fist.'

After a thirty second hi-fiving session at his sick burn, the three stooges split up, each taking a different corner of the clearing to search.

I lay flat on my stomach in the undergrowth, frantically trying to come up with a plan. I could hear the Ares campers cutting angrily through the bush with their swords, coming ever closer, calling out insults and threats as they worked. I couldn't let them catch me. I had a whole bucket-list of things I wanted to achieve before I died, and currently the only item I'd checked off was eating a whole tub of ice-cream using only chopsticks. Before a couple of days ago, it was literally the most heroic thing I'd ever done.

 _Not all heroes wear capes._

Then the idea came to me, a flash of inspiration like a lightning bolt fired directly into my brain. Just like Caerus had talked about, I could suddenly see a path of opportunity unfold before me – and I was going to grab it with both hands.

I wriggled towards one of the Ares campers, keeping low to the ground. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going or what he was doing; after all, the mission was to capture one scrawny kid – how hard could that be? He expected to find me cowering somewhere, and the thought of me fighting back hadn't even made the lonely journey across his mind. The fact that he underestimated me so much was my one advantage.

There was a long, sapwood branch stretching across his path, at about head height. I manoeuvred myself behind him, and then quickly jumped up and grabbed the branch, pulling it sharply back, like a slingshot. Hearing the movement, the guy turned, his sword coming up, his mouth opening to shout to his teammates. But before he could do anything, the words just on the tip of his tongue, I let go of the branch. With a _swoosh_ it swung round with frightening speed and let off an ear-splitting _crack_ as it connected with the guy's helmet. He flew back as if he'd just received a powerful electric shock, colliding with a tree before slowly slumping to the ground, out cold.

I immediately ducked back down as the other two Ares campers looked over.

'What the heck just happened?' one asked.

'Dunno' Porridge-face replied. 'Go check it out. Mike probably walked into a tree or something, the moron.'

 _Well, walked into a tree is one way to put it._

Mike was lying flat on his face, snoring gently. He wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon.

I watched as his fellow goon wandered over.

'Mike?' he called. 'Dude, what's going on?'

Spotting Mike napping, he began to run.

From the undergrowth, I casually stretched my leg out. Like a felled tree, the guy tipped over, and hit the turf hard. I kicked the sword out of his hand, and with my razor I cut through the belt holding up the guy's jeans.

He let out a whimper.

'Who are you?' he asked, his voice tinged with what sounded like fear. 'Annabeth said catching you would be easy. But you're _insane._ '

'I am Castor, son of Caerus' I intoned. 'I am a force to be reckoned with. Nice Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle boxers, by the way. Classy.'

I was feeling on top of the world – then Porridge-face came at me from the side, shoulder barging me into a tree trunk. My vision went hazy for a second, and my mouth filled with the metallic taste of my own blood.

I ducked his follow up sword swing just in time, the blade hacking into the wood, sending splinters flying. I hurriedly backed up, quickly drawing my own sword. Porridge-face grunted, ripped his sword out, and turned to face me, his face a picture of pure malevolence.

'No one's ever gonna know how much you embarrassed us tonight' he told me, baring his teeth in a way that was almost feral. 'Cos once I'm done with you, you're not gonna be in the mood for talking.'

I gulped. I was absolutely screwed. There was no way out of this one – no escape.

 _Unless…_

'Woah, take it easy there Dwayne Johnson' I said, trying my best to sound macho. 'It's just a game, remember? Aren't we supposed to be having fun? You know fun, right? That's when you rub sticks together and try and see if you can make fire.'

 _Wow, Castor, do you WANT to die?_

 _It's cool inner monologue voice, I've got a plan, I swear._

Porridge-face stared at me for a second, his lips moving soundlessly as he attempted to work out whether or not I'd just insulted him.

Eventually, he gave up.

'I dunno what you just said' he snarled. 'But now you're going down _twice_ as hard.'

'What is that even supposed to mean?' I asked, before continuing more slowly. 'Do. You. Understand. English?'

From his place on the ground, one of the other Ares campers snickered.

At this point Porridge-face was experiencing some serious rage. No one spoke like this to him. Ever.

He roared with anger, looking uncannily like a gorilla, and came at me. All trace of his skill was gone, replaced with a wild fury and reckless abandon. He barrelled towards where I stood like a freight train, arms swinging in every direction.

Like a bullfighter, I waited until he was almost upon me, then side stepped. As he swept past, I simply kicked him in the back of the legs. Not exactly the most elegant move, but it had the intended effect.

He grunted and fell to one knee, and started trying to turn around and face me. As he turned, he started bringing his sword up, looking for an opportunity to strike. I stamped on his hand, causing him to swear loudly and drop the sword. Before he could make another move, I flicked Caerus' razor open and pointed it at him.

'Just give me a reason' I said, injecting the words with as much venom as I could.

The guy laughed.

'What are you gonna do, give me shave?' he grinned.

I paused for a second, as if considering his question.

'No' I said after a brief wait, pretending to give it a lot of thought. 'But my pillow's kinda thin. Needs more fluff, y'know? It would be a real shame if that impressive hairstyle of yours happened to get… shall we say, reduced?'

The guy's hands flew to his Mohawk. He looked at me pleadingly.

'Not the hair' he begged. 'Anything but the hair. Seriously, it takes hours to get it this good.'

I rolled my eyes.

 _What a thug. I bet he puts more products in his hair than my mom._

'Just tell me what Annabeth's plan is' I told him, spinning the razor in my open palm. 'If you can give me that information, your hair can stay as it is, in all of its gelled-up glory.'

He gulped, looking nervous.

'I dunno man, Annabeth would kill me…'

I shrugged.

'Oh well. I actually think you'll look pretty good as a skinhead. You could pull off the whole 'prison inmate' look.'

The guy's eyes widened.

'OK, OK' he conceded. 'Annabeth is with Percy, keeping watch over the flag at Zeus' fist. It's really lightly defended.'

'Then why aren't you there, rather than running round chasing after me?'

'Just doing what I was told' Porridge-face said, unconcernedly. 'She gave Raymond and the rest of us the lame job of finding you and bringing you to her, and that's what we've been trying to do all night.'

'What is her beef with me?' I asked him. 'Why does she want me captured this much?'

He shrugged.

'Dude, I thought the same thing' he told me. 'I told Annabeth, _'That guy's just a scrawny little runt. He couldn't take on troop of Girl Guides. I bet they'd beat him up and overcharge him for cookies.'_ But she was adamant. So here I am.'

'Thanks for the compliment' I said, sarcastically.

Suddenly, I heard loud footfalls. A group of people were approaching.

 _Typical. Just typical._

I could hear the loud jangle of weapons, and whispered orders.

'Stay were you are' I hissed to Porridge-face, who looked like he was thinking of making a break for it. 'One move and your Mohawk becomes Black Hawk Down.'

He stopped moving.

I drew my sword, holding it in one hand and Caerus' razor in the other. I raised my weapons.

 _Bring it on._


	15. Chapter 15

The noise from the approaching group got louder, filling the clearing with the sounds of metal clanking on metal as weapons were readied for use. Whoever was coming, they weren't exactly being subtle. And that was not a good sign.

Porridge-face grinned up at me.

'You are _soooo_ dead' he commented happily. 'I can't wait to see you get pulverised.'

'Shut it' I snapped, meaningfully fingering my razor. The smile quickly dropped, and his hands instinctively flying up to his head, checking if his beloved Mohawk was still there.

The bush ahead rustled ominously. They were here.

 _OK, Castor, you can do this. Well, actually you probably can't, but…_

I took a deep breath, steadying myself.

 _Shut up, me._

I gripped my sword tighter, my knuckles turning white with the exertion. I willed my hands to stop shaking.

Fetu burst into the clearing, panting with exhaustion, followed closely by Alyx and Ross, with the twins bringing up the rear.

I let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, letting the razor and sword fall to my side. I was really glad to see all of them – even Ross.

Fetu grinned happily when he caught sight of me, then did a double take as he spotted the beaten Ares campers, strewn across the ground like a game of human pick-up sticks.

'Dude' he said, taking it all in, his eyebrows raised in an expression of amazement. 'You did this all on your own?'

I nodded.

Fetu whistled softly.

'That is _seriously_ bad-ass, man. Props.'

I shrugged my shoulders.

'It was no biggie, really' I said, trying to downplay what was probably one of the coolest moments of my life.

Ross poked the snoring Mike with his foot. The guy didn't move, and Ross quickly rummaged through his pockets.

'Sweet!' he exclaimed, fishing something out. 'A voucher for a free frozen yoghurt. Man, I love fro-yo. Oh, and there's a Pokémon card too. Anyone want dibs?'

I shot a glance at Alyx. She was smiling at me, clearly impressed.

 _Booyah. Score one for Castor._

Porridge-face, on the other hand, was not happy. He was glaring at all of us, his expression stormy.

'Wow, looks like the nerd herd has all migrated to the same place' he commented. 'What, did you guys hear there was a comic-book convention or something?'

He laughed loudly at his own joke.

Fetu nodded at Porridge-face.

'What's up with this guy?'

'Annabeth sent him and the others looking for me' I told Fetu. 'They've been chasing me all night.'

Alyx nodded her agreement.

'That's what split us up' she said. 'Raymond and the others weren't even looking for the flag; they just wanted Castor. It's like half of the other team are trying to track him down. Sounds crazy, I know, but it's the truth.'

Fetu frowned.

'That doesn't make any sense' he said, as much to himself as to the rest of us. 'Why would Annabeth want to capture Castor so badly? That won't win her the game.'

I shrugged.

'Your guess is as good as mine. Not even Porridge-face here knows anything.'

'Who?' Fetu asked.

Porridge-face screwed up his nose to show that he was thinking, something he didn't do a heck of a lot.

'Are you talking about me?' he said, frowning. 'I don't get it.'

'We'll add it to the list' Ross muttered under his breath.

'Uh, it doesn't matter' I replied, quickly changing the subject. 'Anyway, he's actually just given me some useful information. Annabeth's keeping her flag at Zeus' fist, and there's only a few guards. She won't be expecting me to have escaped capture from the Ares campers. She _definitely_ won't be expecting me to turn up and take the flag.'

Fetu grinned.

'I like the way you think, Castor. If we take the flag, it'll bag Hermes cabin some serious bragging rights.'

'Not to mention chore privileges' Ross put in. 'We can finally get off bin duty.'

'Not just Hermes cabin' I told them, feeling a bit nervous. 'After tonight, I'll be moving out.'

'Seriously?' Fetu asked, sounding surprised. 'What happened?'

'I just had a visit from my dad. My godly parent.'

'And?' Fetu prompted, motioning for me to go on. 'Who is he?'

'Caerus, god of opportunity and luck' I said.

 _Wow, that feels so weird to say. Yeah, my dad's the god of luck. Wanna play poker?_

Alyx let out of a whoop of excitement, before leaping up and enveloping me in a spine-crushingly tight hug.

'That's so awesome Castor' she beamed. 'I'm so happy for you. It must feel great, finally getting to meet your dad.'

 _Not as good as that hug felt, to be honest._

'Thanks Alyx' I said, smiling back at her. 'And look, he gave me this.'

I showed them all the razor.

Ross whistled appreciatively.

'That is a _seriously_ fine blade. Check out the edge on this thing – looks like you could cut the air in half if you tried.'

Fetu clapped his hands together.

'OK, let's focus guys. This is a pretty big opportunity we've got here. Looks like that should play right into your strengths, Castor.'

He winked at me, before continuing.

'If we pull it off, we can make both of our fathers proud tonight, and show everyone that being a kid of the wisdom goddess doesn't mean that you can't get outsmarted.'

We all shared a bunch of hi-fives and fist bumps. Porridge-face blew a loud raspberry.

'You guys seriously think you can beat Annabeth at her own game?' he said scathingly. 'This I've _got_ to see. The only question is, will you just fail, or will you fail _epically?_ I'm betting on epically.'

'Shut up, Porridge-face' said Ross, cracking everyone up. Porridge-face tried to think of a comeback, failed, and resorted back to glaring.

 _If looks could kill…_

'So, what do we do with this guy?' I asked Fetu. 'We can't let him go; he'll head straight to Annabeth and ruin everything.'

'We _could_ kill him' Alyx suggested. 'Or maybe just chop his feet off.'

Everyone went quiet, turning their heads to give a look.

She laughed.

'I'm kidding… obviously' she said, smiling at Porridge-face who had surreptitiously started to inch away from her.

Fetu scratched his chin, thinking. Then he grinned.

'I've got an idea' he told me, clearly pleased with himself. 'And I think you're gonna like it.'

He pointed his sword at Porridge-face.

'Strip down to your boxer shorts.'

Porridge-face went even redder – something which I didn't think was anatomically possible.

'What?' he spluttered. 'I'm not going to do that, you freak.'

'I wasn't asking' Fetu replied, his friendly voice taking on a hard edge. 'And unless you want me to unleash Alyx on you, I'd do what I say. Off you go.'

Porridge-face gulped, then did as Fetu directed. Soon he was standing in front of us in nothing but his tightey whiteys – his _very_ tighey whiteys.

'Ross, Castor; drag those other two meat heads over here.'

When we'd done as he asked Fetu got us to get their clothes off too, and soon we had three burly Ares campers in nothing but their briefs, looking like they were just about to go onstage at a muscle building competition.

Using their discarded clothes as kind of rope, as well as flax and twine from the forest, Fetu tied their legs together.

He grinned at Porridge-face.

'You'll have a hard time making it anywhere now' Fetu told him, as the twins and Ross began laughing so hard they seemed in real danger of suffocating. 'Hopefully your friend wakes up in time for the lot of you to make it back to camp before curfew. I'd hate for you to have to meet the cleaning crew.'

Porridge-face paled.

 _Jeez, even the cleaning crew here are terrifying. Is there ANYTHING is this place that doesn't want to kill you?_

Fetu clapped Porridge-face on the shoulder.

'Good luck. Catch you guys later.'

'All of you are dead, you hear me?' Porridge-face shouted as we walked away. 'I'm gonna rip you apart!'

'Oooooh, I'm terrified' Ross said tauntingly, flipping him the bird. 'You guys might have to hug each other for warmth. Just try not to get _too_ friendly.'

With the sounds of Porridge-face's threats still ringing in our ears, we left the clearing behind and headed towards Zeus' Fist.

I took the time to sneak a glance at my companions. Fetu led the way, his dreadlocks bouncing cheerily, sword gripped in his hand with a real sense of purpose.

Alyx was humming to herself – what sounded like _Highway to Hell_ by AC/DC – and looked excited at the prospect of a potential bash up with the Athena cabin.

Ross sauntered nonchalantly along, long spear hung over his shoulder, seemingly unconcerned at what lay ahead.

The two twins, Edvin and Freya, were quietly bickering about something in Swedish as they walked along. Judging from Edvin's hand gestures, they could have either been disputing the number of enemy campers they had each taken out, or maybe how many guests to have at their next birthday – it was hard to tell.

I took a breath. Our group going up against Annabeth kinda seemed like a shoddy high school football team trying to win the Super Bowl. Yeah, technically there was a chance of success, but you'd need one of NASA's telescopes to find it.

I shook my head to clear the negative thoughts. These guys were all I had. We'd either succeed together, or, as one, we'd fail.

 **Hey guys, hope you're enjoying the story so far :) The next chapter is going to be out really soon as well – expect some carnage as Castor and the Hermes crew go up against Annabeth at Zeus' Fist.**

 **Really sorry if the chapters are kinda slow to come out – I'll try and speed the process up!**

 **Love getting reviews, and please feel free to comment on the way the story is going and whether you like the way the characters are developing. It's always great to get your feedback :)**


	16. Chapter 16

' _Move over.'_

' _You move your fat head first, I can't see.'_

' _How many of them are there?'_

' _Three, I think.'_

' _Woah, congratulations. You made it to the number three! I thought you were still stuck at two. Mad respect.'_

' _Ross, by the gods, I swear one of these days I'm going to throttle you.'_

' _There's kind of a big line for that. Have you made a reservation?'_

'Guys, shut up!' I hissed. 'I can't hear myself think.'

Fetu, Alyx, and Ross went silence mid-sentence, turning to look at me with their mouths still hanging open, ready to get back into their argument at a moment's notice. As ever, Edvin and Freya weren't exactly the chatterboxes of the group. They stayed out of the group's bickering, contenting themselves with murmuring in Swedish to each other in low undertones and participating in what looked like a version of _Paper, Scissors, Rock_ that had added in playing an invisible piano, a number of rude hand gestures, and what might have been elements of charades. Stopping their game, the twins gave me their full attention.

We were lying on our stomachs at the edge of a clearing, letting the overhanging branches and foliage shield us from view. Ahead of us was Zeus' Fist, a pile of jagged rocks that had come together to resemble the clenched hand of the Lord of the Sky himself. If I'm honest, to me the rock formation kinda looked like a big pile of crap, but I can see why the name 'Zeus' Doo-doo' didn't catch on.

Perched on the rock was the enemy's flag: a blue banner flying a picture of an owl, the symbol of Athena cabin.

 _Ooooh man, it would actually feel so good if I could take it from right under Annabeth's nose. Almost as great as that time when I watched so much Netflix that the company called up to check if I was OK._

'There's Annabeth' Fetu noted, pointing her out. She stood next to the flag, her place on the rock giving her a good vantage point to check for enemies coming from a long distance away. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't so good for spotting people right under your nose. So far, so good.

Annabeth was flanked by an Ares camper, who if brains were chocolate looked like he didn't have enough to fill an M&M, and by an extremely bored looking Percy. He was flipping Riptide nonchalantly in his hand, clearly not relishing the task of guard duty. 

'So, what's the plan, genius?' Ross asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. 'Annabeth and Percy are probably two of the most powerful demi-gods at camp. No offence, but you look like you'd struggle to defeat a Hypnos camper at a blinking contest. How are we going to get the flag?'

'Stow it Ross' Alyx snapped, before smiling at me. 'I'm sure Castor has a brilliant plan, right Castor?'

 _Um… I did not think this through._

The group looked me expectantly, and it kinda made me wish I could just disappear. I've never had what teachers at my high school liked to call "leadership qualities." During team activities, I was normally the guy at the back making sarcastic comments. But these guys were counting on me. I couldn't let them down. And, as crazy as it sounds, I actually had an idea.

So I told them my game plan, mapping it out for them like a quarterback goes through the play-by-play with his team. It was dangerous, ill-advised, and borderline insane; which meant it might just work.

Every one took their positions. Once they were all in place, Fetu gave me the thumbs up.

 _It's show time._

Acting as casual as I could manage, I strolled out from the cover of the trees onto the small grassy field that surrounded the rock cluster.

Annabeth spotted me immediately, and I waved at her cheerily.

'Hey Annabeth!' I called, plastering a very fake grin on my face to hide my nerves. 'I heard you were looking for me, so I decided to save you the trouble and just come met you myself. How's it hanging?'

Annabeth stood tall on top of Zeus' fist, her blonde hair made even more striking by the moonlight flowing down from the night sky. She scanned the clearing, clearly looking for more enemies.

Percy grinned when he saw me, but quickly changed it to a frown before Annabeth could see it. He nodded at me, which was as close as he could get to saying _'Sup, bro'_ and giving me a fist bump.

Annabeth regarded me in silence. I could see her mind working rapidly, trying to work out every angle so she could stay two steps ahead of me.

'If I'd known you'd just deliver yourself to me, all nicely wrapped, I wouldn't have bothered sending anyone after you' she said after a long pause. 'But you're a hard guy to get a hold of, Castor. Raymond's been running round all night, and even he couldn't manage it.'

I shrugged.

'People have a habit of underestimating me' I said. 'It doesn't usually work out for them very well.'

Annabeth nodded.

'I can see that. But I'm a child of Athena, Castor. I don't underestimate anyone. And I don't get tricked.'

 _That doesn't sound good._

The forest around us suddenly erupted into life. I heard the shouts of Fetu, Ross, Alyx, and the twins as they were surrounded on all sides by swords pointed right at them. With a lot of kicking, complaining (and biting, mainly from Alyx) they were grabbed by blue team campers, and hauled into the clearing.

Annabeth smiled, and leapt down from the rocks, landing gracefully in front of me. Percy and the Ares camper followed, somewhat less elegantly.

'I'm not Jason, I can't fly, you realise that right?' Percy asked Annabeth grumpily. He grinned ruefully at me.

'Hey dude. Sorry about this. It was _not_ my idea.'

Annabeth gave him a look and he shut up.

'Did you honestly think you could fool me?' she asked, her voice contemptuous.

I sighed.

'It was worth a shot' I said, resignedly. 'But can I ask, honestly, what's your problem with me? What did I do?'

Annabeth gave me a beady stare.

'You look…' she started to say, then stopped, as if she couldn't get the words out. She turned away from me, her voice wavering slightly. 'You look exactly like…"

'NOW!' I roared.

Alyx moved so quickly, her body was a blur. She was being held by her arms, so she used her captor like a swing, and flung herself at the camper detaining Ross. The blue plume hit the ground hard, and Ross was free. He reached into his pockets and withdrew some fireworks he'd gotten from Leo – _Orpheus Quick-start Fireworks: They'll tear you limb from limb! –_ and threw them onto the ground.

There was loud bang, a series of bright flashes, and all Hades broke loose.

There was smoke everywhere, reducing everyone to silhouettes. In my ears there was an incessant ringing from the explosion, giving everything an ethereal quality.

I heard Alyx's guttural cry as she leapt into action, and the frightened gurgle of a blue plume camper.

A blue plume materialised in front of me, and drove a spear towards my chest. I dropped to the ground, then kicked him in the shins, grabbing his spear as he went down and using it to springboard me into another enemy camper, sending him flying.

I straightened up, gripping my sword tightly, trying to get my bearings.

In the gloom, I spotted Fetu. He saw me, and pointed frantically.

'The flag!' I heard him yell. 'Get the flag!'

Annabeth ran out of the smoke, coughing, and looking around, trying to catch sight of me.

'I'll hold her off" Fetu called. 'You go!'

Bellowing, Fetu charged Annabeth, who drew a bronze knife and parried his attack with expert skill.

I turned, and ran for Zeus' Fist. It was basically impossible to tell where I was going, but maybe my dad was watching over me, because I ran the right way and ended up at the rocks, and began to climb. It wasn't a long climb, or a tough one, and in no time was at the top, with the prized flag whipping almost majestically in the wind before me.

 _I did it. I actually did it._

'Hold on a second, Castor.'

On the opposite side of the rock, Percy stood, Riptide drawn, his face blackened and hair messed up from the fireworks.

'That was a pretty neat trick' he told me. 'I didn't see it coming. And Annabeth _never_ gets the wool pulled over her eyes like that. Respect man.'

'Percy' I said, my voice low. 'Please. Don't try and stop me. I've come way too far to give up now.'

Percy smiled.

'I'm not going to stop you Castor. You deserve a win. But we're going to have to make this look convincing for Annabeth.'

My mouth fell open.

'So… you're not going to try and stop me?' I asked, not quite believing what I was hearing.

Percy laughed.

'No way dude. But you're going to have to hit me.'

I looked at Percy.

'You want me to hit you?'

'Yup' Percy answered. 'I've got to make Annabeth believe that you jumped me, knocked me out, then made off with the flag.'

'Any idea why she wants to kill me, by the way?' I asked Percy, only half-joking.

He pulled a face.

'It's complicated. But there was this guy in her past, and honestly you look exactly like him. Can't believe I didn't make the connection before. Seeing you… it brings up old wounds for her.'

'What did this guy do?' I asked.

'Oh, nothing much' Percy shrugged. 'Tried to destroy the world. Ended up saving it. But I don't really have time to explain this all to you right now. Come at me bro, before Annabeth works out you're here.'

I gave Percy a soft tap on the head.

He snorted with derision.

'Dude, come on, Mr D can hit harder than that. Like you mean it!'

I knocked him on the head hard with my sword, and Percy crumpled. He gave me a whoozy thumbs up.

'Good one. Now go win this thing.'

I grabbed the flag, and quickly made my down. In the field, it was carnage. Alerted by the fireworks, campers from both teams had converged on Zeus' Fist, and were fighting furiously.

'Red team, to me!' I shouted.

Connor and Travis, who were tag-teaming an Ares camper, saw me, spotted the flag in my hands, and grinned. They formed up at my shoulder, and called for others to do the same. Soon I had an honour guard, and we bulldozed over any blue team camper unfortunate or stupid enough to get in our way.

As a unit, we crossed the river boundary, and in my hands the blue flag shimmered, turning red, and becoming emblazoned with the pictures of an evenly-balanced scale and a razor on its side.

Around me, the campers roared their approval.

Mr D, who at some point in all the commotion had joined the fray, motioned for silence.

'It would seem that our newest camper has been claimed. I present Castor Orr, son of Caerus, Lord of Opportunity and Luck!'

I grinned as the assembled campers clapped and whooped. Things were beginning to look up.


	17. Chapter 17

The Caerus cabin was all sorts of weird. For starters, it looked like it had only been built as an afterthought. Standing on its own, detached from the other cabins, it was like they'd thought they'd finished, and then someone had piped up _'Oh crap, we forgot the Caerus cabin!'_ and they'd done the best they could in as little time as possible.

It wasn't particularly big, which suited me just fine. The last thing I wanted was to be living in some massive, cavernous mansion all on my lonesome.

It was pretty neat though, in its own way. The cabin was clearly styled after a Las Vegas casino, but it looked like the designer had never actually been to Vegas, and was basically just taking a shot in the dark. The front was a glitzy gold and black, with some out-of-place bright pink patterns here and there. A big neon sign buzzed above the door, reading 'FEELING LUCKY?' There were also a couple of Corinthian style pillars, but they were made of Styrofoam and were looking a bit worse for wear.

Inside there were poker tables, a roulette wheel, and slot machines that instead of money spat out – weirdly – cans of banana flavoured soda, which actually don't taste that bad, once you get used to them.

To top it all off, Mr D told me that since I was the only child of Caerus at camp, I got to be the counsellor of my cabin. I was in charge of literally one person – myself – but it did mean that I could do basically whatever I wanted. I normally ended up going to bed before ten anyway, but technically I _could_ stay up as late as I wanted, which was the important thing.

I was chilling on my bunk, drinking banana soda and watching _The Real Housewives of Olympus_ on the TV I'd got a Hephaestus kid to install for me. He'd also put in an aerial that piggybacked off one at the Big House, meaning I got to steal all of Mr D's channels.

I was taking a well-deserved rest, after having my butt kicked at sword-play that morning by an Apollo camper half my size. It hadn't helped that it was Annabeth taking the class, and who'd spent most of the time egging the kid on, telling him to _'Go for the nuts!'_ Consequently I currently had a big bag of ice balanced between my legs. It felt _good._

Annabeth and I still weren't exactly BFFs. Fetu told me that he couldn't remember the last time she'd been outsmarted in a game of Capture the Flag, and that he gave me about three days to live. So far I'd managed two, so I was doing pretty well.

On the TV, the camera panned to Aphrodite, who was saying _'Like, Hera is so up herself. She acts like a Queen or something. Well, I mean, she IS one, but still.'_ The show was surprisingly good.

There came a knock at the door, startling me. I hadn't been expecting anyone, and Caerus cabin never had guests.

'Hey Castor, its Alyx. Mind if I come in?'

I choked on my banana soda in surprise, and began coughing as it caught in my throat.

'Are you OK in there?' came Alyx's voice, sounded concerned.

I swallowed and managed to compose myself.

'Yup, totally fine' I managed to say, regaining control of my voice. 'Come on in.'

The door opened and Alyx came in hesitantly, smiling when she saw me. She grimaced when she saw the ice bag that I'd forgotten to get rid of.

 _Smooth move, Castor._

'I heard about that' she said sympathetically, perching herself on a stool at the roulette table.

'Let me guess, from Ross?' I asked.

'He might have mentioned it. And laughed. A lot' Alyx replied, grinning. 'But don't worry about it, everyone knows Howard is really tough for twelve.'

'Kid must be on some kind of magic steroids' I muttered. 'He's like some mini Usain Bolt. One moment he's in front of me, the next I'm taking a nap on the ground.'

Alyx laughed, swishing her long black hair back as she did so, giving her the look of a model off a shampoo commercial. She was in a black singlet and khaki shorts today, a Lara Croft style outfit which I rated 11/10. I'd seen hot girls before, but Alyx really was in a league of her own. The fact that she was actually talking to me, alone, was kinda mind boggling.

'So how are you finding camp so far?' Alyx asked, still smiling.

'Apart from getting beat up by little kids?' I replied.

Alyx laughed again, her green eyes bright.

'Yeah, apart from that' she said.

I shrugged.

'It's pretty cool, but I'm still having trouble taking it all in' I answered truthfully. I gestured around the cabin. 'I mean, look at this place. My dad is a Greek god. And the god of _luck._ To be honest, I still don't really know what that even means.'

'You've got plenty of time to work it out' Alyx said reassuringly. 'Everyone takes some time to adjust. It's a lot to get your head around.'

I looked at her.

'You seem so confident' I observed. 'What was it like for you when you found out?'

Alyx went silent for a minute, her expression reflective.

'It was… interesting, for me' she said. 'I –'

Whatever she was about to say next was cut off as the twin doors to my cabin burst open, and Percy let himself in, as he was prone to do. In Percy's mind, people who knocked before entering were boring. And Percy was anything but boring.

His eyebrows shot up when he saw Alyx, and he winked at me. I glared back.

'Sorry to interrupt' Percy said, smirking. 'But you're needed at the Big House, Castor. Counsellor meeting. And you are technically a counsellor.'

'What's the meeting about?' Alyx asked, interested.

Percy waggled his finger at her.

'Sorry young lady, but that's need-to-know only. Come on Castor, let's go.'


	18. Chapter 18

We said goodbye to Alyx – Percy cheekily, me regretfully – and headed outside. It was a beautiful day, with a clear blue sky overhead and that perfect yellow-gold kind of sunlight that soaks into everything and leaves you feeling cheerful. Come to think of it though, the weather at Camp Half-Blood was _always_ great, as if storms and rainclouds just made their way around it. Which it probably did, I thought to myself. Magically controlled weather wouldn't even make the top ten list of insane things about this place.

There was a crowd of campers huddled around something on the basketball court, and Percy raised his eyebrows at me.

'Come on' he said, jerking his head towards them. 'Looks like trouble. We'd better go check it out.'

The group of kids was so engrossed in what was going on that they didn't notice us approaching. Some of them were chanting, while others were yelling threats like _'Rip 'em apart! Go on, smash him!'_ and, offensively, _'That's rubbish! I've seen Castor fight better than that!'_

Percy elbowed kids out of the way to get to the middle of the circle. There in the centre, two small bronze figures clicked and whirred as they fought each other. One was tank-like, with caterpillar tracks and small rotating blades that spun viciously. The other was shaped like a tower, and had a hammer attached to its front which it was attempting to crush its opponent with.

The shouting of the assembled campers reached a crescendo as the hammer of the tower machine crashed down, missed, and was cut off by the blade of the other figurine. Half of the crowd cheered madly, while the other half groaned.

'That's a K.O.!' came a familiar voice. 'Tower of Death is down, and Wheels of Fury claims the match! Congrats to the winners, and to the losers, pay up!'

Ross appeared, grinning, clutching a bucket with which he started collecting money from those who had bet on the losing side. Percy rolled his eyes at me.

'Should've known' muttered. 'If anyone would be behind this, it would be Ross.'

Ross was chuckling to himself as he shook the bucket, hearing the coins inside jingle merrily. His face dropped when he saw us.

'Um' he said quickly, his Adam's apple bobbing as he took in a gulp of air. 'This isn't what it looks like.'

Seeing the jig was up, the other campers made a break for it in all directions. Ross tried to leg it too, but Percy simply reached out and plucked him up by his collar, planting him back in front of us.

'It looks like a banned game of Gladiators was happening' Percy said mildly. 'Which you happened to be making a neat profit off. But, go ahead, tell me what's actually going on. I can get confused so easily.'

'Well' Ross said slowly. 'It's pretty easy to explain. What's going on is that I'm actually a victim here.'

'And how do you work that one out?' Percy asked, gamely.

'They forced me into it' Ross said, warming to his story. 'I said, _'No way, I couldn't break the rules like that. You know me, I love the rules. I wish I could marry the rules. If I could, I'd-'_ '

'Thanks, we get the picture' I interjected, not wanting to hear what came next.

Ross shrugged.

'Anyway, as you can see, I'm completely innocent of any crime' he said. 'In fact, I'm kind of a hero.'

Percy nodded seriously.

'You are. Maybe you should come to the Big House with us and explain your heroism to Mr D? I'm sure he'd love to reward you.'

Ross paled.

'Nah, you know me, Perce. I'm too humble for all that. I don't ask for rewards for my good deeds. That warm fuzzy feeling is all I ask for.'

'Of course' Percy replied. 'That being the case, I think I'd better take that bucket of drachmas off you. You won't be needing it.'

Ross opened his mouth to protest, caught Percy's eye, and thought better of it.

'Be my guest' he said sullenly. 'I was just going to give it away anyway. To held the orphans or something.'

Percy patted Ross on the back.

'A true hero. Off you go.'

Ross left, muttering to himself.

I looked at the big bucket of gold coins.

'Are you going to give that to Mr D?' I asked.

Percy laughed.

'Oh gods no. He doesn't deserve it any more than Ross does. I'm sure I can find a use for it.'

He winked at me, and I grinned back.

'We'd better get going' Percy said. 'The meeting's probably already started by now.' I nodded and we set off.

'So, you and Alyx, huh?' Percy asked slyly as we made our way across the strawberry fields to the Big House.

Percy was still grinning at me.

'Castor?' he prodded. 'What were you doing with Alyx in the cabin? Anything Uncle Percy needs to know about?'

I shrugged.

'We were just talking. No big deal.'

Percy rolled his eyes.

'This guy' he said, as if talking to an imaginary audience. 'One of the hottest girls at camp turns up to his cabin alone to 'talk', and he thinks it's no big deal.'

I laughed.

'She's just being friendly' I told Percy, although I secretly harboured my hopes to the contrary.

'Suuuuuure' Percy said sarcastically, drawing the word out to make it clear he didn't buy it.

He then gave me a penetrating look.

'You do know what you're getting into with Alyx, right?' he asked, seriously.

'I'm not getting into anything!' I protested.

Percy raised his hands in supplication. 'OK, OK. I believe you. But let's just say, for the sake of argument that you _were_ getting into something. You'd need a heads up.'

'Uh huh' I replied, trying to gauge where the conversation was going. 'And what would that be, exactly?'

'Look, don't get me wrong, Alyx is great' Percy said, clearly thinking hard about how to say what came next. 'She's a real live wire. Never boring.'

'But?' I asked, impatiently.

Percy sighed in exasperation.

'It's not my place to say' he said. 'But Alyx has had a… colourful history. I mean, her last boyfriend alone…' Percy trailed off, giving me a pointed look. 'What I'm trying to say, Castor, is that beautiful girls like Alyx – and trust me, _especially_ Alyx – come with baggage. So, just be careful, OK?'

'Got it' I said, somewhat bemused. 'Consider me warned.'

We reached the foot of the Big House and Percy clapped me on my shoulder.

'Good' he grinned at me. 'But right now, we've got bigger things to worry about. Come on in, the meeting's inside.'


	19. Chapter 19

Note to self: it's kinda hard to have a serious meeting around a ping-pong table. Not that Mr D was really trying.

Percy and I walked into what at first seemed more like a sports tournament at a rough prison than a brain trust. The Stoll brothers were there, in the middle of the mayhem. One of them had somehow managed to get a ping-pong ball to catch fire, and they were having an intense match to the cheers of the other assembled cabin leaders.

I caught sight of Annabeth, who folded her arms and threw me a death stare, her gray eyes fierce. I decided for the sake of my health to stay as far away from her as possible.

Mr D lounged on a fraying armchair, sipping a diet Coke in a way that said _'If the whole lot of them started killing each other, I still probably wouldn't get up.'_

He glanced our way as we entered, tipping his can to us in a sarcastic salutation.

'Ah, well if it isn't the dynamic duo' he drawled. 'So nice of you to grace us with your presence. Now we can _finally_ start.'

Mr D cleared his throat loudly. Receiving no response, he clicked his fingers imperiously. From the wall, a vine unwrapped itself and shot out, grabbing the flaming ping-pong ball in mid-air. Connor and Travis groaned.

'Aw, c'mon' Connor complained. 'That was the match point!'

'Everyone shut up and sit down' Mr D said with enough menace that the campers scrambled to follow the order without any further argument. Percy and I found a couple of unoccupied foldout chairs perched at the edge of the table and took a seat.

The room was pretty full, with all of the cabins being represented at the meeting. Apart from the Stoll brothers and Annabeth, I recognised Raymond from the Ares cabin, his arms basically bursting out of a tight t-shirt, and Jason, who was disinterestedly examining his fingernails in one corner. The rest I didn't really know, but had seen them around camp. There was a Latino guy, who reminded me of one of Santa's little elves, if elves had a fondness for army surplus gear and destruction. There was also a stunning brunette present, who I guessed must be the Aphrodite counsellor.

There was a leopard head mounted on the wall above Mr D's head. As I watched, I swore I could see its eyes blink. Then it opened its mouth and let out a feral snarl, making me almost fall off my chair. No one else however seemed the least bit surprised. On the contrary, Mr D seemed only vaguely annoyed.

'Can someone please find Seymour's snausages please?' he asked.

The Latino guy produced a packet, grinning, and proceeded to throw a few three-pointer shots in Seymour's direction, who caught the treats in his mouth and chewed contentedly.

I frowned to myself.

'If that thing is just a head, then why does it need to eat?' I asked Percy in a whisper.

'His name's Seymour' Percy replied. 'He gets upset if you don't call him by his proper name. And the poor guy's just a head. Seems mean to deny him a snausage, even if he technically doesn't have a stomach.'

 _This place is SO weird._

Mr D clapped his hands together for attention.

'This is a matter of some delicacy' he started, his face serious. 'As such, I need all of you to swear that what I'm about to tell you does not leave this room, unless you have my permission.'

Everyone shifted a little uncomfortably, and glanced at each other, before making the oath as Mr D asked. Everyone swore on the River Styx, and I followed suit. As we finished, there was the sound of a rolling thunderclap overhead. I swallowed nervously. Clearly swearing on the River Styx was a big deal. It would not be a good idea to break the promise I'd just made.

Mr D nodded.

'Good' he said, almost to himself, before continuing. 'Now, as most of you have probably already noticed, Chiron has been conspicuously absent from camp for the past few days. Ordinarily, that would be no cause for concern. Chiron is more than capable of handling his own affairs. But we have had word from our Oracle that something about this… just isn't right.'

It was then that I noticed the girl sat next to Mr D. She had shocking red hair, freckles, and green eyes that were so deep in colour you felt like if you looked for too long, you could fall in. She wore a baggy t-shirt and ripped jeans, both of which were covered in marker pen doodles.

'That's Rachael Dare' Percy whispered in my ear. 'She hosts the spirit of the Oracle of Delphi. That means she can do, like, prophecies and stuff. Pretty neat, huh?'

'Yeah, just super' I muttered. If prophecies meant what I thought they meant, then that would mean this Rachael could supposedly see into the future. I didn't have much time for people who thought they knew what was coming before everyone else. In my experience, they were always full of crap.

Rachael took Mr D's cue to stand, smiling at everyone. She seemed awkward, as if public speaking wasn't really her thing.

'It's hard to pin down exactly what's wrong' she said, fidgeting with the hem her shirt as she spoke. 'But ever since Chiron has been missing, there's been a… disturbance in the cosmos. When I try and see Chiron, all I get is darkness. Impenetrable, total darkness.'

This caused a bit of commotion amongst the campers. Many looked scared and worried, while others seemed angry. Among those who were angry was Annabeth.

 _Surprise, surprise._

'Is he hurt?' she demanded of Rachael. I could have been wrong, but I sensed a little undercurrent between the two, some kind of lingering antipathy that – while buried – had never totally gone away.

Rachael shook her head.

'His life force is strong, that I do know. But while he is not harmed, he seems to be trapped. I believe someone – or something – is holding Chiron against his will.'

Percy launched himself up.

'Well, then we've got to go get him' he said simply, his tone of voice holding no room for argument. 'Who's with me?'

Many other campers got to their feet, but Mr D waved them down.

'Now hold on just one second, Perry Johnson' he said, irritated. 'We can't just go running straight into what could well be a trap. Besides, we don't have any idea where Chiron actually is.'

I saw Percy grit his teeth.

'Firstly' Percy said, clearly struggling to remain calm and civil. 'It's Percy Jackson. You know that. Secondly, if Chiron is in danger then we have to go after him. He'd do the same for any of us. We can figure out the details along the way.'

'I would have thought the location of where you're going would be the one thing you'd want to figure out _before_ you got started' Mr D replied acidly, his brow furrowing in anger. 'This is exactly the problem with you heroes. Complete disregard for everyone and everything but yourselves. The universe, last time I checked, did not revolve around _you,_ Percy Jackson.'

Percy looked just about ready to punch Mr D in the face which, given the visions of madness Mr D had shown me, would have ended in disaster. But it was at this point that Rachael sucked in a huge gulp of air, and stood rigidly still. Both Mr D and Percy stopped bickering immediately and turned to look at her as she began to speak.

It was not Rachael's voice that came from her lips. It was a husky, dusty voice that spoke with the weariness of thousands of years trapped in tombs and caverns, hidden from the sun. It was the powerful, resonant voice of something _other._

' _Mentor gone in time of need,_

 _Destruction and death will be its seed._

 _Old enemies and new friends same,_

 _All betrayed by those to blame._

 _Daughter of wisdom and son of luck,_

 _Must be rivals till lightning struck.'_

Rachael finished speaking, and closed her mouth, the fire in her green eyes dimming. She looked around at everyone, who were apprehensively glancing between me and Annabeth, as if afraid a fight could break out at any minute.

Percy exhaled loudly, cutting into the thick silence that had gathered around the room like a cloud.

'Well, I don't know about you guys' he said conversationally. 'But I think we're screwed.'


	20. Chapter 20

The room exploded into heated discussion.

'Castor can't lead a quest, he just got here!' Raymond protested angrily. 'This is way too important to leave to a newbie.'

'And not smart' someone else put in. 'We should send someone good! The son of some B-list god will only screw it up.'

I didn't say anything in my defence. To be honest, a road trip with a high possibility of death didn't really sound like my thing. And anyway, they were right – I wasn't good enough to help lead a quest. I could barely swing a sword without cutting myself. Rachel's prophecy didn't make any sense.

Annabeth was shooting a venomous glare my way, her gray eyes stormy and more than a little frightening.

'There has to have been a mistake' she said, managing to keep her voice steady in a supreme effort of will. 'The prophecy _cannot_ have meant Castor to be on this quest. By the gods, he's never even met Chiron. Why would he be the one chosen to save him?'

Rachel shook her head forcefully in disagreement.

'The spirit of the Oracle is not wrong, Annabeth' she said, folding her arms with an air of finality. 'It is not for us to decide; the gods have spoken. You know only disaster will come of us ignoring a prophecy.'

I cleared my throat.

'Could I say something?' I asked, hesitantly.

The room grew still as everyone shifted their attention to me. I could sense them sizing me up; reassessing me in the light of this new turn of events. Before, they'd been content to ignore me. Now they stared at me, like hungry wolves eyeing new prey. It wasn't a good feeling.

'I think Annabeth is right' I said, my mouth suddenly feeling completely dry. 'The prophecy can't have been meant for me. You've got heroes like Percy here, and I'm… I'm no-one. Send someone else. Honestly, it's fine.'

Annabeth snorted indelicately.

'See?' she said triumphantly. 'Even _he_ can see it. Let's leave this to people who actually know what they're doing.'

Many of the campers were nodding in agreement. I didn't blame them. They wouldn't be writing ballads about my epic achievements any time soon. Unless getting through two _Real Housewives of Olympus_ marathons back to back counted.

'No, Annabeth.'

There was a collective intake of breath as Percy stepped forward. Annabeth's face went slack with amazement.

'But Percy – ' Annabeth started to protest, before he cut her off.

'Castor is meant for this quest. I know it' Percy said, looking around the room, the look on his face saying _'Disagree at your own risk, punks.'_

Everyone clearly had a lot of respect for Percy. At his words, the mood around the ping-pong table shifted. The message was clear – if Percy thinks you're up to the job, then that's enough for us.

'Well' Mr D said, speaking for the first time since the prophecy had been announced. 'That was fun. Looks like that's settled then. Castor and Annabeth are to lead the quest to find Chiron, and to bring him back to camp safely. That's if they don't murder each other first.'

The way he said it, it sounded as if Mr D thought either outcome was a win. He looked at Percy.

'Am I to assume you will be accompanying them?' he asked, archly. 'Given it was you who spoke for Castor?'

Percy seemed resigned.

'I really thought I was done with all this' he muttered to himself. 'I _hate_ prophecies.'

'There should be five on this quest' Rachel put in. 'I fear the traditional three will not be enough.'

Mr D shrugged.

'Whatever' he said, disinterestedly. 'All the same to me. The more demi-gods leave, the fewer there are left round here to annoy me.'

Mr D grinned to himself at that, before sticking a pudgy finger in my direction.

'Mr Orr, you make the choice' he told me, before pausing to shoot Percy and Annabeth a meaningful look. 'Considering the _happy_ couple are going to be accompanying you, you could probably do with some moral support.'

I felt the room spinning around me. I took in some deep breaths, trying to steady myself.

 _This is too much. I.. I'm not ready for this._

'I need some fresh air' I mumbled, before turning and hurriedly making my way out of the Big House, the discontented mutterings of the other campers ringing in my ears.

Once outside, I took a seat on the steps under the shade of the veranda, looking out towards the camp. I could see campers making good use of the hot weather, swimming and canoeing out on the lake. One kid from Hephaestus cabin had mounted what looked like a semi-automatic water cannon to the front of his canoe, and was engaged in a heated water fight with a bunch of Ares campers. In an odd kind of way, it was an almost peaceful scene.

I put my head in my hands, screwing up my eyes so tight that bright spots flared up in my vision.

 _I don't want to do this,_ I thought to myself sullenly. _Why am I never asked what I want to do?_

I hadn't asked for monsters to turn up at my school. I hadn't asked for my dad to be a god. I hadn't asked to be sent here. And now, just as things were finally beginning to kind of make sense again, I was going to be packed off on _Mission: Impossible_ with absolutely no clue what I was doing.

 _Great. Just great._

I heard the door behind me swing open as somebody came out onto the deck. I didn't look up.

'Hey dude.' It was Percy. Of course it was Percy.

'Not really in the mood for a heart to heart right now' I muttered. 'Probably best to just leave me alone.'

The stairs creaked as Percy sat down beside me.

'Well, it's too bad I've never been very good at following orders' he said, with a grin in his voice. 'So, I think you're gonna get a Percy pep-talk, whether you want one or not.'

I groaned, before looking up at him.

'Don't you think I've got it hard enough already?' I asked, making Percy laugh.

'Good point' he conceded. 'Don't worry man, I'll keep it short.'

Percy reached out and punched me hard on the arm.

'Ow!' I protested, drawing away and rubbing the bruise balefully. 'What was that for?'

'To stop you from feeling all sorry for yourself' Percy told me. 'I've come to break up your little pity party, Castor. There's no time.'

I glared at him.

'I wasn't feeling sorry for myself' I replied angrily. 'But I feel like I've got onto a crazy rollercoaster ride, and every time I try and hop off, it just gets faster.'

Percy laughed ruefully.

'Trust me, I know the feeling.'

He glanced at me seriously before continuing.

'You feel like no one asked your permission for throwing you into this insane new life, right? Well Castor, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but no one ever is. You're important in ways you don't understand. You have people relying on you, who need you to use the powers you've been given. It's hard. I get it. And sometimes it can feel so unfair. But this stuff… It's bigger than you and me.'

'But why _me?'_ I almost yelled. 'Why not literally anyone else?'

Percy shrugged.

'I've asked myself that same question I don't know how many times. That's just the way it is. There's no getting out of it. Trust me on that one.'

Percy grinned.

'Besides, you're underestimating yourself dude. You've got what it takes to lead this quest, I can tell.'

'Annabeth doesn't seem to think so' I muttered.

Percy frowned for a second.

'Yeah, well, don't take it personally' he said ruefully. 'Before we dated, she used to insult me _all_ the time. She can just be a little… intense, sometimes. She cares about Chiron a lot. We all do. But once she gets to know you, I'm sure she'll change her mind.'

He went to pat me on the arm, before remembering he'd punched me there and decided better of it.

I was about to say something to Percy, when I felt something hot press against my skin. I dug into my pocket, and withdrew the razor Caerus had given to me. Its blade had begun to heat up, and on the bronze I could see my father's symbol, the scales of opportunity, light up in a blinding white.

'Woah' Percy said appreciatively. 'That looks awesome. Where'd you get that?'

'From my father' I said. 'But I –'

As quickly as it had happened, the heat died away and the blade of the razor returned to its normal color.

Percy raised his eyebrows at me.

'What do you think that meant?' he asked.

It was a sign, from my father. The crossroads of opportunity were before me again, and I had to make a decision about the path I was going to go down.

'It means' I said, breathing in deeply. 'That I'm coming on the quest.'

Percy beamed, his sea green eyes lighting up with delight.

'Oh man, that's great!' he said excitedly. 'Any idea who you want to come with us? You've got to pick two more people. Just _please_ don't pick Raymond, I went on a quest with him once and he ate all of our food supplies within the first half hour.'

I smiled to myself.

'I think I've got a pretty good idea.'

 _This might even turn out to be fun._


	21. Chapter 21

Percy said he'd meet up with me later, gave me a fist bump, then headed off, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I had a lot of them. I felt as if my brain was still trying to process the crazy new circumstances it found itself in. It was only last week that my biggest worry had been the C I'd gotten on my algebra test. Now I was a leader of a _quest._ Talk about a promotion.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much time to ponder. The peace and quiet was shattered by a harsh voice that I knew only too well.

'Hey, lucky charm! I need to talk to you.'

It was Annabeth. She'd followed me from the Big House, and from her tone I didn't think she wanted to have a friendly chat while we braided each other's hair. With her blonde hair billowing out around her, and steely gray eyes locked on me in a death stare, she looked exactly like a Greek war goddess. I wasn't sure if I should be impressed or terrified.

 _Terrified. Definitely terrified._

'We need to talk' Annabeth told me, striding over. 'Come with me.'

'Yep, totally' I replied, trying to keep my voice from squeaking. 'Hey, y'know what would be fun? Staying in a public place. With witnesses. It'll be like a game.'

Annabeth gave me a flat look.

'Castor, shut up.'

'OK, shutting up.'

Annabeth paused for a moment, as if trying to gather her thoughts.

'Look, Castor' she said eventually. 'I'm going to be honest with you. I don't want you on this quest.'

I raised my eyebrows in mock surprise.

'Really?' I asked, allowing sarcasm to creep into my voice. 'I had no idea. You should have said something.'

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. I suddenly remembered that she could probably kill me in about a million different ways.

'Shutting up again' I mumbled apologetically.

'Good idea' Annabeth agreed, still glaring. 'Unfortunately, it seems as if we're stuck with one another. For Chiron's sake, I'll put up with you.'

'Gee, thanks' I muttered.

Annabeth continued speaking as if she hadn't heard me.

'This quest is of the utmost importance to me, and to everyone at this camp. I don't know if you've ever taken anything seriously in your _life,_ but there's a first for everything. And you start _now._ '

I thought about telling her that I'd gone through a period of taking _Pokémon Go_ very seriously, but decided to let it slide.

'A quest team, Castor, should be like a well-oiled machine' Annabeth told me, jabbing a finger at my chest for emphasis. 'Every member is a cog, and they need to fit together perfectly. You're like the spare part attached at the end that doesn't actually do anything and just gets in everyone's way.'

I frowned.

'Are you calling me this quest's third wheel?' I asked, somewhat incredulously.

Annabeth rolled her eyes in annoyance.

'You're impossible' she hissed, sighing in exasperation. 'I can't imagine what Percy sees in you.'

 _Right back at you._

In a huff, Annabeth turned to leave. But before she went, she paused and looked back.

'Just remember, Castor, if you screw this up, you're going to have me to deal with. And you'll need more than the god of luck as your dad to save you then. Got it?'

I swallowed.

'Crystal clear. Thanks for the heads up.'

With that, she flounced off in the direction Percy had taken, and I felt a pang of sympathy for the guy. Hurricane Annabeth was about to claim another victim. I could only shudder at the thought of what it would be like to date her full time. Annabeth must have some good qualities buried deep down, I thought to myself. _Really_ deep down.

I made my way over to the Hermes cabin. As I walked in the door I was hit with an avalanche of sound.

The place was a hive of activity. Packed full of campers from Cabin 11 and elsewhere, everyone was discussing the meeting at the Big House. People sat on bunks and gathered round the tables, exchanging theories and suppositions. Amid the buzz of conversation, one thing seemed clear: the camp knew a quest was happening. Seems like nothing stayed a secret for long round here.

Fetu glanced my way as I entered and grinned. He was sitting with Alyx and a couple of girls from the Aphrodite cabin, who Ross was shamelessly attempting to hit on – with what seemed like little success. I caught sight of the bright blonde hair of the twins, Edvin and Freya, as well. They sat on their own, murmuring quietly to each other in Swedish.

'Hey Castor!' Fetu called, waving to me. 'Get over here, man.'

Fetu leant in to whisper conspiratorially to the Aphrodite girls.

'Castor's our man on the inside' he told them proudly. 'He's a big shot counsellor, right Castor? He'll be able to tell us what's going on.'

Ross pulled up a chair and I sat down cautiously, feeling like a deer in headlights as the group stared at me expectantly.

'Well?' Alyx asked impatiently after a pause. I frowned, trying to work out what I could say without breaking the oath I'd sworn on the River Styx.

'I can't say too much' I told them, and they all groaned.

'Typical' Ross complained. 'This was your one chance to actually be useful, and you blew it.' He turned to the girl sitting next to him. 'If it was me, I promise I'd tell you _anything_ you wanted to know.'

Alyx punched him on the shoulder.

'Stow it, Ross' she said. 'If Castor can't tell us what the meeting was about, then he must have a good reason. It's probably top secret.'

I smiled at her gratefully.

'Exactly. It's kinda need to know only right now.'

Ross snorted derisively.

'Woah, sorry, didn't realise I was talking with James Bond' he said, his voice oozing with sarcasm. 'It'll probably be something about the world ending, right? I swear, it's like we're threatened with Armageddon every couple of weeks round here.'

I laughed.

'The world's not about to end' I said reassuringly. Then I frowned. 'At least, I don't _think_ so. I'm kinda new round here.'

Ross rolled his eyes.

'It hardly shows' he muttered.

' _Anyway'_ I went on, glaring at Ross. 'I won't tell you what it's about, but I can tell you that there is a quest.'

Fetu nodded sagely.

'We'd figured as much' he said, sounding pleased with himself. 'You won't be aware of this Castor, since you just got here, but there hasn't been a quest for ages. The oracle has been weirdly silent. It's kinda been bumming everyone out.'

'But this is really good news!' Alyx grinned. 'A new quest is exciting! Any idea who's going?'

I cleared my throat awkwardly. 

'Yeah, about that' I said, feeling like a bug under the microscope. 'Can I talk to you for a sec Alyx? Um, alone?'

Alyx raised an eyebrow.

'Sure' she said, her expression curious. 'We can go outside if you want.'

The others protested – Edvin and Freya in rapid fire Swedish – but I just smiled and promised to fill them in later.

Once we were outside, Alyx turned to me expectantly.

'What's up?' she asked, looking at me with concern. 'Is everything alright, Castor?'

'Yeah, everything's fine' I said, then hesitated. 'Well, actually, to be honest, no – everything is _not_ fine. Alyx, I'm the one leading the quest.'

Alyx's eyes widened in surprise.

'Really?' she asked, sounding awed. 'Wow. Castor, that's… well, that's awesome for you! Getting to lead a quest when you've been at camp for as short a time as you have is really unusual. I think the last time it happened was probably with Percy… Are you excited?'

I shrugged.

'I guess so. It's all kind of overwhelming, y'know? I literally have no idea what I'm doing most of the time.'

Alyx nodded sympathetically.

'I feel that. It took me a while to find my feet, and I didn't have anywhere the baptism of fire you're going to have…' she trailed off, seeing my expression.

'But don't worry!' she laughed, reaching out and touching my arm. It felt as if static electricity had sparked against skin, and I almost pulled away. I hadn't had a lot of experience with beautiful girls being within a hundred feet of me.

 _Easy, Castor. Do NOT blow this one._

'I have a feeling about you' Alyx went on, smiling up at me. 'You're going to do great. Trust me.'

Her words gave me a surge of confidence. Maybe she was right. Maybe I _could_ succeed. I was still fuzzy on the details, but if Alyx was in my corner, then I felt ready for anything.

'I want you to come with me' I blurted out. 'I need quest partners, and we'd make a great team. With your fighting skills and my… um, other talents, this thing should be a piece of cake.'

Alyx seemed to literally radiate with pleasure. She threw her arms around me in a spine crushing hug.

'Oh brilliant!' she exclaimed happily. 'Of course I'll come, Castor! I've never been on a quest before, but I've always wanted to.'

She paused to punch the air in celebration, and began to sing a shockingly awful rendition of _We are the Champions._

'One more thing' I said, interrupting her before my ear drums burst. 'I need to pick one more person to come with us. At the moment it's me, you, Percy, and Annabeth.'

Alyx pulled a face.

'Shame about Annabeth. Does she still want to murder you?'

'Yeah, pretty much' I replied, remembering our previous conversation. 'I'll probably need to sleep with a sword in my sleeping bag. But any ideas on the fifth member?'

Alyx considered it.

'Well' she said slowly. 'I would say to bring Fetu, but he's just about to head back to Hawaii to see his family. So that leaves basically just one person.'

'Hold on' I said, raising a hand in protest. 'If you're about to say who I _think_ you're about to say, no way. Absolutely not. Over my dead body.'

Five minutes later, after a heated argument, Ross joined us outside Cabin 11. He was grinning triumphantly. I wanted to hit him.

'I'm going to have to check my schedule' he told me. 'I'm a busy guy. I'm not sure if I have the time to go around saving the world. Stuff to do, you know how it is. Oh wait no, sorry Castor, you probably don't. I'm guessing the Glee Club at your school wasn't invited out a lot.'

'Well, jokes on you, because I was in the Chess Club' I shot back, before realising how unimpressive that sounded and quickly moving on. 'Ross, trust me, you were _not_ my first pick. But if you want it, the spot's yours.'

'OK, I'll do it' Ross said. 'Under seven conditions. First, everyone on the quest must refer to me as _El Capitan._ Secondly, I want you to publically state that I am master-mind slash genius. Thirdly – '

'I'll give you this voucher for a free frozen yoghurt' Alyx, cutting him off.

'Done' Ross said immediately. He grinned at Alyx and me. 'This is going to be fun. The three musketeers, going on an adventure. There'll be action, laughs, maybe even a little romance…' He wiggled his eyebrows at Alyx.

'Don't push your luck' she growled. Ross nodded.

'Keep it professional' he said, winking. 'Good call. Our undeniable sexual chemistry will have to wait. We have a planet to save.' 

Alyx groaned.

'Don't make me change my mind about you, Ross' she threatened.

'We're meeting with Mr D tonight' I told them, trying to get the conversation back on track. 'And we leave tomorrow. I'll meet you back at the Big House in a few hours.'

Alyx nodded, and Ross shot me with a finger gun.

'Ten-four, boss' he said. 'Quick question: what's your policy on road trip mixes? Taylor Swift, yay or nay?'

I sighed.

'Ross, don't be stupid.' Then I reconsidered. 'Anything from the album _Red_ onwards is acceptable. Any more questions? No? Good. Let's go.'


	22. Chapter 22

The five of us sat around the ping pong table in the Big House, joined by Mr D and Rachel Dare. Mr D was reclining in a massive, overstuffed armchair with a giant bowl of grapes in his lap that he ate out of luxuriously. Unsurprisingly, he didn't offer to share.

'Deciphering prophecies can be… difficult, to say the least' Rachel told us, her fingers beating a quick rhythm on the ping pong table. 'They're not like a roadmap you can simply follow to your destination. The truths contained in them are more complex.'

Ross rolled his eyes.

'So, in other words, you have no idea what it means either' he said, sounding exasperated. 'I don't get it. I mean, sure, saying _'Chiron's stuck at the McDonald's just off Exit 34, take the interstate'_ doesn't sound quite as cool, but it would speed things up.'

Mr D cracked open a can of Coke disinterestedly.

'That's Apollo for you' he commented dryly. 'Always had a flair for the dramatic. But _so_ predictable. Hasn't had an original idea since the Black Death. Worse, he always insists on _rhyming_ , Zeus only knows why.'

'Just be grateful it wasn't a haiku' Rachel said, rolling her eyes. 'If I have to listen to _one_ more of those, I swear I'll go nuts.'

'Where was Chiron headed when he left camp?' Annabeth asked, still pacing. Mr D cast his gaze towards her, taking a sip of his drink before answering, sounding bored.

'I wouldn't have the first idea. I am not Chiron's minder, young lady.'

Annabeth stopped to glare at him, clearly not happy with being referred to as _young lady._

'You're telling us you have no clue what Chiron was doing before he disappeared?' she asked incredulously.

Mr D raised an eyebrow archly.

'If I knew where Chiron was I would simply rescue him myself' he said, his voice betraying more than a tinge of annoyance, 'Without having to consult with pesky demigods like _you,_ Miss Chase.'

'But aren't you a god?' I asked, feeling like I was missing something. 'Can't you just… y'know, use your magic or whatever?'

Mr D blinked.

'What a funny suggestion' he said. 'I should use _magic,_ should I?Would this be with a wand, or would I just throw up my arms and shout _'Alakazam!'_ '

Ross sniggered.

'Nice burn' he commented, raising his hand for a hi-five. 'Gimme some skin, big guy.'

Mr D gave Ross an odd look.

'Excuse me?'

'C'mon, don't leave me hanging.'

Mr D raised his hand limply, and Ross pounded it enthusiastically. I decided immediately that Ross awkwardly hi-fiving an Olympian god was one of the best things I had ever seen.

'To come back to the issue at hand' Mr D went on, after Ross had assured him that they'd _"work on it"_ , 'and to answer your question Mr Orr – no, I can't simply use my powers as a god to retrieve Chiron. In the first instance, I am bound to this infernal camp. As much as I wish I could, believe me, I can't simply leave. I am tied here. But it's more than that… It is as if Chiron is being held in a shroud, hidden from me. I suspect whoever has taken Chiron has done this to foil any chance of divine intervention. This task is not for me to complete.'

Mr D sighed resignedly before continuing.

'This is a matter for demi-god… heroes.'

He said that last word if as he didn't quite believe it. Percy clapped his hands together.

'Well' he said slowly, as if trying to convince himself. 'I can't believe I'm about to say this, but, I actually agree with Mr D. None of us would be standing here today if it wasn't for Chiron. Even you Castor – it's thanks to Chiron that you have a place like Camp Half-Blood to come and feel safe. It's only right that we're the ones to save him. No gods, no spectacular divine stunts. Just us, and a heck of a lot of celestial bronze.'

I went to clap, realised no-one was else was going to, and lowered my hands. But everyone was nodding their agreement, their expressions fierce and resolute. Percy could be pretty inspiring when he wanted to be.

Ross cleared his throat.

'I hate to ruin the mood' he said, dryly. 'But we're no closer to actually working out where we start looking for Chiron.'

Percy's face fell.

'Oh' he said. 'Yeah. Good point.'

Annabeth shot me a pointed look.

'Any pearls of wisdom to share with the rest of us?' she asked bitingly. 'You are quest leader, after all. You're going to have to make the final call on where we go.'

I frowned, trying to mask the fact that I was completely clueless with an expression of deep concentration. Everyone was looking at me expectantly.

'Uhhh' I said, wisely. 'What did the prophecy say again?'

Annabeth let out her breath noisily in an annoyed _huff._ Alyx smiled at me encouragingly. At least I could still rely on her to have my back.

Rachel began reciting the words of the prophecy.

' _Mentor gone in time of need,_

 _Destruction and death will be its seed._

 _Old enemies and new friends same – '_

I snapped my fingers.

'There' I said, having a small _eureka_ moment. 'Old enemies and new friends same. You guys know way more about this stuff than I do – what could that be referring to? Does the camp have any old enemies or new friends?'

Annabeth tilted her head, thinking.

'Old enemies _and_ new friends. Maybe…'

Then she brightened.

'Camp Jupiter' she said. 'Of course! How could I not have thought of them before? _Old enemies and new friends same._ Oh, I'm an idiot, of course that's who it means. '

'It's a good starting point' Percy agreed. 'Reyna and Frank might have heard something. Maybe they'd be prepared to pool resources.'

I glanced between Annabeth and Percy.

'Sorry, I'm kinda in the dark here' I said hesitantly. 'Camp Jupiter? I'm guessing that's not a theme park.'

Percy smiled.

'No, but it should be. Camp Jupiter is a similar set up to here, but for the children of the gods in their Roman forms. They take themselves a little bit more seriously than we do. The place is like a military academy.'

'Frank and Reyna are the camp's leaders; their _praetors_ ' Annabeth explained absentmindedly.

'Frank's a good dude' Percy told me. 'Reyna's a little more intense, but she's a strong leader. She's actually pretty cool, once you get to know her.'

Annabeth was giving Percy a scrutinising look as he talked about Reyna. Almost if…

 _Don't even go there Castor._

'Well, it seems as if you have come to a resolution then' Mr D interrupted. 'Just in time too, the _Real Housewives of Olympus_ starts in ten minutes, and I really can't afford to get behind. Last episode, Athena said to Hera that her _chiton_ looked like a size XX instead of an X.'

'Oh, that was a good episode' I said without thinking. Percy raised an eyebrow at me.

'Um, so I've heard' I went on, lamely.

'But the quest is the important thing!' Mr D continued, not listening to me at all. 'I have every faith in all of you. If you fail, of course, I will have no choice but to turn all of you into dolphins and force you to do tricks for me in exchange for fish. But I'm sure it won't come to that.'

Annabeth drew her bronze knife, examining her reflection in the metal blade.

'You don't need to worry about that' she said, with an air of finality. 'We come back with Chiron, or we don't come back at all.'

 _Brilliant,_ I thought to myself. _Now we're a suicide squad. Whoopee._

 **Hey everyone! I'd just like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all of you who continue to read my story, and leave great reviews, it really means a lot!**

 **The quest is getting underway now with the team heading to Camp Jupiter, and I'm interested in any thoughts any of you have on the characters so far, group dynamic, and anything you want to see as the story moves forward i.e. with Reyna, the quest etc.**

 **Also I know some people are a bit apprehensive about the way I write Annabeth, but please bear with me, I think you'll like how it turns out in the end.**

 **Appreciate ya fam, cheers :)**


	23. Chapter 23

I woke up in my cabin feeling groggy and dazed. It was still pitch black outside, so it wasn't time to get up. I'm not normally the kind of guy who _ever_ wakes up in the middle of the night – usually the entire building could burn down and I wouldn't even turn over in bed. But something was off. I wasn't alone in the cabin.

I sat up in bed and glanced around, narrowing my eyes in suspicion. The slot machines in the corner beeped and whirred contentedly, flashing their red and green lights at each other as if communicating in some kind of weird code. The roulette wheels turned slowly, and above the door the neon sign hummed sonorously.

 _Huh. That's weird. I could've sworn I-_

'Hey Castor.'

I swore loudly, leaping up and whacking my head on the wall, before tumbling out of my bunk in a tangle of sheets and confusion.

'What the f-' I began, ready to absolutely lose it with whoever thought it was cool to creep into my cabin in the middle of the night and scare the living hell outta me. Then I caught sight of the woman sitting nonchalantly on the edge of the poker table, beaming at me, and I decided that, in retrospect, she could break into my room whenever she liked.

Now, I know that sometimes I have a tendency to exaggerate, but I swear that this time I am being one hundred per cent accurate. This woman was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Like, _ever._ Picture whatever celebrity you think is crazy hot. Scarlett Johannsen. Margot Robbie. Ryan Reynolds. Whoever it is, even if you put every Hollywood star in a blender and somehow came up with a smokin' super human (and not some weird kind of human milkshake) and they still wouldn't come _close_ to this chick.

She was dressed casually, in tight jeans and a t-shirt, and yet she managed to look more elegant than any model on the catwalk. Her blonde hair hung loose about her shoulders, and she wasn't wearing any makeup, which served only to heighten her appeal. She was, I guess you could say, a _goddess._

'Are you a goddess?' I asked, stupidly.

Her smile deepened.

'Good catch. I am Aphrodite, the goddess of love.'

 _Well. Holy crap. This night just took a pleasant turn._

'And we, Castor Orr, have a lot to talk about.'

I swallowed nervously, while at the same time trying to seem unfazed and suave, which just led to me loudly gulping like a goldfish thrown out of its bowl.

'Cool' I managed to say, finally. 'Super cool.'

Aphrodite smiled again, an experience which I feel would be similar to that of a drug trip. It was _great._

'So, how's the preparation for your quest going?' she asked. 'Must be stressful. Yesterday you were the new kid at camp, and now you're leading a mission vital to the camp's survival.'

'You… you know about that?' I asked, incredulously.

Aphrodite laughed; a high, tinkling sound that seemed to fill the room with warmth.

'Oh sweetie, I'm a goddess. I know everything.'

I nodded.

'OK, well in that case, do you know where Chiron is?'

Aphrodite pursed her lips.

'No. I'm afraid that information is… clouded.'

'Oh' I said, disappointed. 'Damn. That would've been useful.'

I had thought she'd come to tell me where Chiron was being held captive. It was basically the only way this late night call made any sense.

'You're wondering why I'm here' Aphrodite said, still smiling.

 _This is kinda creepy._

'You're probably pretty creeped out at the moment, right?' she asked.

'Can you – ?'

'No' she cut in hurriedly. 'I can't read minds. I'm just really good with emotions. They are kind of my thing, after all.'

'Right' I said, confused. 'I guess that makes sense.'

 _Nothing right now is making any sense._

Aphrodite got up from where she was perched and came to sit on the end of my bed. I was suddenly very aware of the Peppa Pig t-shirt I was wearing. It was a full 10/10 for being comfortable, but not exactly what I wanted to have on when talking to the most beautiful woman in the world. I guess the universe just has a cruel sense of humour.

'Do you know the story of Helen of Troy, Castor?' she asked.

'Kinda' I replied, unsure of the relevance. 'She ran off with Paris, and the Greeks fought the Trojan War to get her back.'

Aphrodite tilted her head.

'I would have thought a son of Caerus would view it a little differently. Your father was on Helen's side, by the way, as was I. And we were on Helen's side, Castor, because we both recognised that all she wanted to do was to forge her own destiny. To write her own story, free from the clutches of a man she didn't love. She saw an opportunity, and she took it.'

Aphrodite gave me a meaningful look. Clearly I was meant to be getting something out of all this, although I had no clue what it was. I tried to look intelligent, sitting in my bunk bed in a pink pig t-shirt. It was tough.

'I've taken an interest in you, Castor' Aphrodite told me. 'Caerus has always been my favourite cousin. He and I are very similar, although he probably wouldn't like to admit it. And it's been a very long time since he had a child. I think you're going to do great things.'

From her jeans pocket, Aphrodite produced a small heart shaped glass bottle. She held it out to me.

'This' she explained 'is from my new line, _Aphrodite No.9._ '

I looked at it dubiously.

'Um, thanks, but I think I'm good.'

She laughed softly.

'Oh Castor, I think you're going to want this one. One drop is enough to make anyone fall madly in love with you. The effects aren't permanent however. Sun up, till sun down, they'll be yours – after that, all bets are off.'

I took it gingerly. The little bottle glowed with a red hue that pulsated ominously. It was a love potion, but it felt dangerous.

'There's no force more powerful than love, Castor. Remember that.' Aphrodite grinned at me before getting up.

'Time for me to be getting on' she said, glancing down at me. 'It's prom season in Rio De Janeiro, and I've got hearts to attend to. But I'll be keeping an eye on you, Castor.'

'Thanks' I answered, not knowing really what else to say.

Aphrodite paused.

'Oh, and as for that Hermes girl, what was her name… Alice? Alexis?'

'Alyx' I told her. 'I know, I've already had plenty of warnings.'

Aphrodite gave me an impish grin.

'Oh darling, what's a warning when you're love? You just have fun.'

'Well, my love life hasn't exactly been stellar up till now' I grumbled.

Aphrodite pulled a sympathetic face.

'I know. It's been about as exciting as a cloistered monks, hasn't it?'

 _Coming from the goddess of love? Ouch._

'But things are about to change' she assured me. 'Now, sleep Castor.'

She smiled, and the last thing I remembered before drifting back off was Aphrodite's radiant face swimming out of sight.

Unfortunately, when I slept, I dreamed. And it wasn't Aphrodite-themed dreams filling my head; I'd hopped on a rollercoaster of a horror show, and there was no way of getting off.

As I shut my eyes, I dreamt that I fell into a vast field, with long grass all around me that swayed to and fro in the wind. Above me was a jagged cliff, upon which stood a massive stone citadel. Lightning flashed in the sky, although there were no clouds to be seen.

Darkness swirled all about me, and it felt as if my clothes and hair were being tugged at by tiny little hands that came from nowhere and everywhere at once.

' _CHILD OF LUCK'_ came a voice from an indistinguishable source. _'YOU WILL MEET OUR CHAMPION ON THE FIELD OF COMBAT. YOU WILL FIGHT, AND YOU WILL DIE. THIS IS YOUR FATE.'_

I tried to call out, to answer back that whoever this voice was could go screw itself, but the darkness gathered and shoved itself down my throat. I convulsed, and the scene around me dropped away, until I was floating in nothingness.

A pinprick of light swam its way towards me from the void, and I reached out my hand towards it. It was a butterfly, and it alighted on my hand daintily, its wings slowly stopping their beating until I held it in my palm.

'Castor…' came a faint voice. 'You must find me, but there's so little time.'

'Who are you?' I shouted into the darkness. 'Are you Chiron? Where are they keeping you?'

Then came a deep laugh that reverberated all around as if in a cave, and when it spoke it dripped with spite and cynicism.

' _Why do you fight for the gods, Castor?_ ' it asked me. ' _They don't care about you. They don't care about any of us. You and I, we could be gods. The heavens and the earth could be our dominion. Think about it. If you manage to survive the coming days, we'll talk.'_

Then I was falling, falling, falling… and knew nothing more until morning.


	24. Chapter 24

'OK, OK, run this by me one more time' Ross was saying, his voice infused with the usual overtones of sarcasm. 'We live in a world where the gods of Olympus exist and hang out in New York in their spare time, and I'm waiting for the _bus?_ We're headed off on a cosmic kamikaze mission on _public transport?'_

Annabeth gave him a look that Medusa would've been proud of. I was surprised Ross didn't turn into a boulder right then and there.

'Let's make this clear right from the beginning' she growled, her gray eyes flashing. 'The only person who's allowed to make annoying quips is Percy. Anyone else is liable to find out just how trigger happy I can get with this dagger when I'm grumpy.'

Percy put his hand to his chest in mock surprise.

'Honey, that's the sweetest thing you've ever said about me' he said, grinning. 'But seriously guys, Annabeth's only had about six coffees this morning. I wouldn't test her.'

I looked around, trying to get my bearings. We'd left camp earlier that morning to touching farewells, including Mr D forgetting our names and a poorly drawn banner which read 'VICTORY OR DEATH! (PREFERABLY VICTORY).' It was enough to make anyone get a warm, fuzzy feeling.

After that, we'd followed Annabeth through the woods until we'd come to a poorly hacked out path in the trees. It was as if something large and extremely fast had barrelled through here at breakneck speed, destroying everything in its path. Someone had planted a rickety wooden sign in the grassy bank, which we stood under warily. It looked really out of place, just swinging there out in the middle of nowhere. On it was scrawled:

 _THIS STOP:_ HERE. DUH.

 _NEXT STOP:_ SOMEWHERE ELSE, SILLY.

'What kind of bus service is this?' I asked apprehensively.

'I don't think it's the kind that has seatbelts or complimentary biscuits, that's for sure' Ross muttered.

'It's obviously not one of your usual, mortal buses' Annabeth said. 'But it's our quickest way to Camp Jupiter. Probably.'

Alyx arched an eyebrow. She had her hair up today in pony-tail, and was wearing a large puffer jacket to ward off the cold. On her, it looked stylish. I could feel Aphrodite's love potion in my pocket, pressing against my skin. If I could just –

 _Focus Castor._

 _Right. Yeah. Sorry, me._

'What do you mean, _probably?'_ Alyx asked, her tone sceptical.

'Well' Annabeth replied, reluctantly. 'As you'll be able to figure out for yourselves, as a method of transport it can be… unreliable.'

Percy snorted.

'That's an understatement' he laughed. 'Remember that time when we wanted a weekend in Vermont? We ended up in Alaska.'

'Anchorage can be romantic too' Annabeth snapped.

'Why don't we all just take a Pegasus?' I asked. 'Those flying horses are epic.'

'They are seriously cool' Percy agreed. 'But none of you guys have any experience in flying them. Hades only knows where you'd end up. Trust me, Pegasus can be pretty mischievous if they work out you don't have a clue what you're doing.'

'Look, this is a calculated risk' Annabeth explained peevishly. 'But I'm satisfied it'll pay off. If it works, we should get a direct ride to Camp Jupiter. So unless the rest of you feel like hitchhiking your way there…'

We all shook our heads dutifully.

Annabeth smiled. 'Thought not. OK, everyone stand back. And cover your ears – this might get noisy.'

From her pocket, Annabeth produced what looked like a sea shell. She muttered something, threw the shell on the ground, and stamped on it with a shout, breaking it into pieces. There was a pause. Nothing moved. The air was silent and still, without even the hint of a breeze.

Ross looked around. 'Well' he said eventually. 'That was a fail-'

With an almost sonic boom, a bus hurtled out of thin air and came to a screeching halt in front of us. We were all knocked off our feet, falling backwards into the bushes. Ross swore loudly, and I dazedly rubbed my head before slowly getting to my feet. Before us was what looked like a large tour bus, decked out in a green and pink paint job that made my head swim all over again. There was a giant yellow scallop shell painted on it as well – the same kind of shell Annabeth had – and the words:

' _AA TOURS: The fastest and most reliable* (see terms and conditions) bus service in this world or any other!'_

Beside me, Alyx blinked groggily.

'Are you seeing what I'm seeing?' she asked.

I nodded.

'Yup. There's definitely a magic bus in front of you.'

'Oh good' Alyx said, not sounding very reassured.

The doors to the bus burst open and two women in bright high-vis shirts with _'TOUR GUIDE'_ printed on them came bounding up to us. They wore matching caps and smiles so big we were basically blinded by their excessively shiny teeth.

'Hiiiiiii' the one on the right trilled excitedly. 'We are like, soooooo excited to have you guys with us today on AA tours. My name is Abeona.'

'And I'm Adiona' the other one beamed happily. 'And together we bring you world class transportation services at rock bottom rates.'

'Ummmm… cool' Ross replied, giving them a thumbs up. 'Good for you.'

'Oh my gods, thaaaanks' Abeona replied. 'It's always great when we have demi-gods on the tour. For like, promo and stuff.'

'We have _got_ to get a pic of them for the company Instagram' Adiona basically yelled. 'And we'll get them all to retweet us – our twitter mentions will be through the roof!'

'Oh, you are just _too_ smart' Abeona cried, giving Adiona a hug. To be honest, they were both so similar they I was already beginning to forget which one was which. I decided it probably didn't matter.

Annabeth waved to get their attention.

'Hey guys, could we get a ride to Camp Jupiter? It's important.'

With a _poof,_ a clipboard appeared in Abeona's hand.

'Nooooo problem' she said, conjuring up a pen in her other hand. 'Let me see… Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena – awesome! Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon – how is he doing these days, it's been aaaages since I've seen him… Alyx Petralia, daughter of Hermes – looking great girl! Ross Everson, son of Hermes… that Hermes really does get around…'

Abeona peered at her list.

'Ooooooh' she said. 'Castor Orr, son of Caerus. I guess today's our lucky day!'

That cracked both of them up. I smiled politely.

 _These jokes are gonna get old fast._

Adiona pouted at Percy.

'I saw you gave us a 1-star review last time' she said. 'Seriously, W.T.F.'

'Well, I mean, you did kinda take us to a completely different part of the continent' Percy said, clearly trying to be diplomatic.

Adiona's smiled widened, and I noticed for the first time how sharp her teeth were.

'You know, I'm gonna change it' Percy corrected hurriedly. 'Give you the full 5 out of 5.'

Adiona flipped her hair back, her mood restored.

'Oh thanks Percy, you're such a sweetie. Hang onto this one, girl' she told Annabeth.

'Can we just get on the bus?' Annabeth asked huffily.

'Of course hun!' Abeona answered. 'All aboard! Next stop, Mesopotamia!'

'No, _Camp Jupiter_ ' Percy said emphatically. 'Do you need to write it down?'

'Don't worry, we're totes professionals' Adiona grinned. 'We've just been voted most likely to reach your destination within ten working years.'

Ross groaned.

'This is going to be a tough ride.'

 **Hey everyone, cheers for continuing to read my story! As always, please review as I'm always interested in what you guys have to say :)**


	25. Chapter 25

The inside of the bus was crowded with what looked like tourists – although not your usual camera wielding type. There were satyrs, glowing spirits, and a big group of what seemed like dwarves with insanely large, drooping ears. When one of them would turn their head, their _Dumbo_ style ears would flap around hilariously.

Annabeth caught my gaze.

'They're _Panotti'_ she told me, under her breath. 'They were a tribe from Scythia back in ancient times. Now they just kind of travel around. These days they're harmless.'

I frowned.

'What do you mean, _these_ days they're harmless?'

Annabeth broke eye contact, seeming awkward.

'Well' she said, weighing her words. 'They did used to, kind of, catch wayward travellers and um… eat them.'

I blinked.

'They did _what?_ '

'Oh, don't overreact' Annabeth huffed. 'No one's had any problem for years. Let's just get this bus ride over with.'

I stole another glance at the _panotti._ They certainly seemed friendly enough, chatting to each other excitedly and pointing out things in guidebooks titled _'Where in the seven worlds are YOU?'_

Sitting at the front were a couple of guys who looked like they'd just stepped out of a frat party. One's singlet read _"Sun's out, gun's out,"_ while the other's said _"It's everyday bro."_ They were packing some serious Arnold Schwarzenegger type muscle. I wasn't sure if muscles could grow their own muscles, but if they could, they would look like these two. As we walked past, they slowly turned their heads, their eyes following us.

Ross gave them a friendly wave.

'Waddup my dudes' he said, giving them a wink. 'Hey, you know what I love? Protein powder and trying to cover up my insecurities. What about you?'

The two didn't answer. I wasn't even sure they could speak English – they looked more like they communicated in grunts. They just continued to stare at us, unblinking, resting their massive biceps on the seat in front.

Annabeth smacked Ross in the back of the head.

'Quit it with the stand-up routine' she hissed. 'If you get yourself in a scrap, we won't be running in to defend you.'

'I would love to watch you fight those guys though' Percy grinned. 'It would be like throwing a Chihuahua in the lion enclosure. If the lions could shoot lasers out of their eyes. And can fly. The message of the metaphor is that you'd be dead in three seconds.'

Ross glared, opening up his mouth to retort.

'OK, babes, take your seats!' Adiona trilled. 'We're about to head off!'

'Wooohooo!' Abeona called, excitedly. 'Let's get this show on the road. By the way, guys, could you all be darlings and wear these? It will look great on the company's snapchat story.'

She passed us a bunch of baseball caps, coloured vomit green, on each was printed _"AA Tours: The ride of your life!"_ Below that, in much smaller writing, was _"Fare non-refundable, even in the event of your painful demise."_

I took mine doubtfully.

'Wow… um… thanks' I said, not wanting to offend.

Alyx punched me on the arm.

'Put it on, Castor. I think bright green's your colour.' She grinned at me.

 _You know what? Suddenly the hat doesn't look so bad. Kinda stylish, actually._

We took our seats near the back of the bus. Adiona and Abeona both had microphones and were standing at the front, beaming. I noticed with a jolt that there was no one in the driver's seat. The wheel simply turned on its own, without anyone to steer it. Of all the crazy things I'd seen over the past few days though, a self-driving bus was pretty low down on the list.

'Welcome to AA Tours!' Adiona chirped. 'We are the number one tour company that operates in both the mortal and immortal realms. And we are just _sooooo_ excited to have you with us.'

Percy rolled his eyes.

'Not hard when you're the _only_ tour company' he muttered under his breath.

Adiona frowned at Percy.

'Please keep all talking to a minimum while we conduct the tour' she said sweetly, the sharp points of her teeth visible. Percy swallowed nervously, and promptly shut up.

'Hey' Ross whispered, pointing at a _panotti_ with particularly large ears and lips covered in bright red lipstick. 'I didn't realise your girlfriend was on board, Castor. I gotta say though, I reckon she's out of your league.'

Alyx rolled her eyes.

'Behave' she snapped at Ross.

Adiona consulted her clipboard as the bus picked up speed. Looking out of the window, the landscape was quickly becoming an indistinguishable blur of colour.

Clearing her throat, Adiona spoke into her microphone. 'If you look out your window to the right, you will see the – ah, no, sorry we've passed it. But coming up on the left is the… aaaand it's gone. Sorry!'

'I think they might need to rethink their business model' Alyx whispered to me, smiling.

I laughed.

'Nooooo' I said, sarcastically. 'I've learned so much on this tour already.'

Percy nudged me.

'Hey, quit flirting you two. I need you to be on high alert. Something's not quite right.'

Alyx turned a bright shade of red.

'You're just being paranoid' she said, clearly embarrassed.

Percy made a face.

'I don't know… This whole thing feels odd. Like, when you walk into the wrong party and everyone just stares at you, y'know?'

I shrugged.

'I haven't been to a lot of parties.'

In front of me, Ross sniggered.

'There's a surprise.'

'Ross, so help me –'

'We have a _very_ important announcement fam' Adiona said, cutting me off. 'If you'll notice at the back, we have a group of demi-gods from Camp Half-blood. Give us a wave guys!'

We all waved, half-heartedly.

'Now, fun fact' Abeona continued, taking over from her sister. 'But they are on a totes _top-secret_ mission, isn't that right?'

We all froze.

Percy cleared his throat nervously.

'Top secret mission?' he asked, trying to sound surprised. 'Us? Where'd you get that idea?'

Abeona giggled.

'Oh, don't be so silly, Percy. We have a very special friend who told us all about it. Don't we, Adiona?'

'We do' Adiona confirmed. 'And he also asked us one small favour.'

Annabeth narrowed her eyes.

'And what was that?'

Adiona grinned.

'Oh, nothing much. Just to kill you.'

As if this was the signal, the two gym jocks got up from their seats. The one with a buzz cut pointed a finger straight at me.

' _Castor Orr'_ he hissed. _'It is time.'_

His voice had a weird, metallic ring to it, kind of like a bad recording on an old CD player.

I froze in my seat. Alyx, Ross, Percy and Annabeth all turned to look at me. Percy raised an eyebrow.

'You know this guy?' he asked, sceptically. 'Did you used to go to the same gym?'

The gym bro was joined by his friend. He stood in the aisle, methodically cracking the joints in his fingers, one by one, with a loud _pop._

Abeona and Adiona put down their microphones. The chatter on the bus died. The atmosphere became tense.

Percy held up his hands in a placating manner.

'Hey now' he said, keeping his voice steady. 'Let's not do anything that will get us a 1 star rating on _Yelp._ '

Abeona bared her teeth. Suddenly she didn't seem quite so ditzy.

'Please feel free to take up any problems you may have with our customer service division. Although you might find it hard to get service where you're going.'

Annabeth slowly drew her knife.

'I don't know who you're working for' she said calmly. 'But whoever they are, they've made a mistake. We're the same demigods who have defeated Titans. We're not afraid of you.'

Adiona raised an eyebrow.

'I don't care whether you're scared of us, honey. Although if you knew what was coming, you would be. But we only need Castor alive. The rest of you… well, this is _totes_ sad, but we're going to have to kill you.'

'Bring it on' Ross called. 'We can take your pet jocks. I'm gonna call them Chad' he pointed at the buzz cut, 'and Brad.'

The one now known as Chad spoke in a voice that was a grating whirr.

' _Castor Orr'_ he rasped. _'You can join us. The new imperium is close at hand. Take your place amongst its rulers.'_

'I have no idea what you're talking about' I replied, taking out my razor and unsheathing it with a satisfying _click._ 'But you can go back to whoever sent you, and tell them that Castor Orr told them to go screw themselves.'

Percy grinned. He twirled Riptide, its tip tracing figures of eight in the air.

'Now that was a good line' he told me. 'I'm going to have to remember that one.'

Brad flexed his bronzed muscles, letting out a soft whistling noise. I realised that it was his attempt at laughter.

' _Such bravado'_ he said in his unsettling metallic voice. _'But if that's your choice. Death then.'_

Chad pushed his hands together, and brought them down onto the floor. Something exploded out his hands, emanating outwards. As it hit the windows and doors it hardened. We were sealed in.

Adiona held up an iPhone in our direction.

'Smile!' she trilled. 'This is going on my story.'

Chad and Brad sprang towards us with frightening speed. Percy and Annabeth, moving completely in sync, met them head on.

Percy leapt forwards and ducked underneath Chad's first swing, but met Brad's incoming shoulder and was propelled into the side window. The bronze tint in the glass pulsed as he ricocheted off it, but did not crack or splinter.

Annabeth yelled in anger, slashing her knife towards Chad. It bounced off his bronze skin, unable to penetrate. Annabeth's eyes widened in shock.

'They're automatons!' she yelled, before Chad backhanded her and she spun into the wall.

Pulling what looked like a tube of pringles from his backpack, Ross ran at the automatons. The tube elongated in his hand, becoming a long, hooked spear. Ross stabbed it towards Chad's head, but the automaton swatted it aside and sledgehammered his hand into Ross' ribs. I heard something crack and Ross crumpled, gasping for air.

The bus continued to hurtle onwards, the landscape outside a mere blur. The other bus riders pounded at the windows and the doors, desperately trying to escape. But they, like us, were simply along for the ride.

Alyx had once again activated her hyper-mode, and was meeting Brad in combat with a speed that seemed impossible. Her twin swords flashed as she danced around Brad, her repeated attacks creating flurries of sparks as metal scraped off metal. Brad kept swinging his massive fist at her, trying to knock her off balance, but none of his punches would connect.

Too late, I noticed that Chad had ripped up one of the bus seats and was barrelling towards me. I tried to throw myself to the side, but Chad had the seat gripped like a battering ram and it hit me with the force of a freight train. I flew backwards, and landed on the floor hard. The pain washed over me in a blinding wave. Everything hurt. I could taste blood.

 _No one told me this was part of the deal._

Annabeth crouched beside me. Her face was covered in bruises.

'OK lucky charm' she panted, looking at me. 'We're getting ripped apart here, and I'm not sure how much longer we can last. Any ideas?'

My head swam.

'Uhhhhh' I groaned, feeling like I was trying to talk through a mouth full of cotton wool. 'We need to – '

The front of the bus exploded, and my world turned upside down.

 **Stumbled on this a few days ago, and randomly decided to kick it back into action. Expect regular updates. Cheers :)**


	26. Chapter 26

' _Castor! Castor! Wake up!'_

' _I can't feel a pulse, I think we're losing him.'_

' _Oh gods, Castor, open your eyes!'_

' _There isn't much time. We need to leave.'_

' _Not without him!'_

' _Alyx, come on –'_

I coughed and spluttered, finally managing to wrest my eyes open. Around me crouched my friends from Camp Half-Blood, along with a bunch of kids in purple t-shirts carrying short swords and rectangular shields. They looked like they meant business.

I almost passed out again as Alyx enveloped me in a spine-crushing hug.

'You're OK!' she said, her voice muffled as she buried her head in my shoulder. 'I thought for a second…'

Alyx trailed off.

I looked around me. The bus was flipped on its side, with the front engine ablaze. Someone had pulled me out and lay me on the grass bank. Passengers were staggering out of the wreckage, looking dazed and bruised but otherwise unhurt.

'What the hell happened? I asked incredulously.

'We engaged the target using lethal force' answered one of the kids in purple. He was a short guy, but heavily built, and looked about fifteen. He had a savage buzzcut and an expression that told me he took himself way too seriously. 'My unit spotted a high value military target, and we responded appropriately with minimum casualties.'

Ross rolled his eyes.

'Jeez, who let Ranger Rick out of the box?' he asked.

The guy bristled.

'My name is Centurion Jack Davis, of the fourth legion' he told Ross, self-importantly.

' _Acting_ Centurion' cut in another purple shirt. 'You're only in charge because Melvin's got food poisoning.'

This guy reminded me of Leo back at Camp Half-Blood. He had curly black hair and a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Jack puffed his chest.

'Don't backchat me in front of the Greeks, Diego, or I'll put you on latrine duty.'

'You can't do that, only permanent Centurions can.'

'Then I'll… uh… write a scathing letter about you to the _praetor._ '

'Go on then' Diego grinned.

'GUYS!' Annabeth yelled. 'Shut up! We're grateful for your help, but we really need to leave.'

'What's the rush?' Percy asked.

Annabeth wordlessly pointed towards the wreckage of the bus, which had begun to tremble and shift.

There came a screeching as metal buckled. The roof of the bus tore open, revealing two scorched but very much still operating automatons. And they did not look happy.

'Ah' said Percy. 'I see. Castor, can you walk? Or better yet, run?'

Jack motioned to one of his purple shirted friends.

'I can buy us some time. Everyone cover their ears.'

From a large wheelie-bag Jack produced what looked like a long metal tube with a scope and trigger attached.

My eyes bulged.

'Uhhhh, dude is that a…'

'Military grade surface-to-air missile launcher?' Jack asked offhandedly. 'Yup. Well, with a few of my own modifications.'

'Jack!' Diego groaned. 'Reyna told you to stop bringing missile launchers on missions. Where do you even get them?'

Jack ignored him.

'Everyone get down!' he called.

Brad and Chad, the automatons, had started running towards us, their limbs whirring. Jack put the launcher to his shoulder, aimed, then fired.

The explosion knocked me off my feet and sent me rolling along the grass. I lay on my back, panting.

'Alright, let's move out!' Jack was yelling. 'Ten-four, look alive!'

His comrade, Diego, pulled a long-suffering look before organising the rest of the campers into a line that started running. 

'Castor, we've gotta go!' It was Percy, standing over me, and holding out his hand. I took it, and Percy hauled me to my feet.

'Who are these people?' I asked Percy, leaning on him for support.

'They're Roman demi-gods' he told me. 'From Camp Jupiter. Not a bad bunch, but a little… intense, at times.'

I looked around, and saw a sign next to the road that showed we were in the Bay Area. A few days ago, I would have thought that impossible. Now, a vehicle bending space and time didn't even warrant an eyebrow raise.

'How are we getting to Camp Jupiter?' Annabeth asked Jack.

'There's an _Aeneas_ passage close by' Diego said. 'It's where we were stationed when you guys came up on the radar.'

He gave us all a sideway glance.

'What happened anyway? We haven't heard from Camp-Half Blood in months. Then suddenly you guys turn up in a bus going a thousand miles per second and scrapping with automatons.'

'We'll explain it all when we get to Camp' Annabeth said. 'But we need to talk to Frank and Reyna. Urgently.'

'Frank's not here' Diego told us. 'Him and Hazel went on a romantic weekend getaway. That was a month ago. Reyna's been tearing her hair out trying to find them, but it's like they've disappeared into thin air.'

'I hope they're OK' Percy muttered.

Annabeth threw him a tired grin.

'They're both tough as nails. I'm sure they're fine. But I wonder if their disappearance is linked…'

'Company, halt!' Jack shouted. The Romans ground to stop.

I looked around.

'Where's this passage?'

Diego pointed at a manhole, leading down to the sewer beneath the highway.

'Through there.'

Ross made a face.

'C'mon, really? Why'd you have to put through there?'

'We don't control where the passages spring up' Jack replied, testily. 'They're along divine lines of power, that's just how it works. Now – '

In the distance, came a clanking and whirring sound.

Percy swore.

'No time for arguing. Ross, you go first.'

Ross grumbled as he opened the manhole cover and lowered himself in.


	27. Chapter 27

Camp Jupiter was impressive. On the other side of a flowing river was a city. I could see amphitheatres, jutting towers, and large open-air squares where people of all ages talked and mingled with one another in the crisp, afternoon air.

Diego, the Roman camper, caught my eye.

'Pretty amazing, right?' he asked. 'That's New Rome. The Legion built it as a haven for demigods and legacies. It's got everything; once I muster out of the legion I'm going to go to college there.'

'Is that where we're going?'

Diego shook his head.

'We're taking you to see Reyna. She's the praetor and leader of the Twelfth Legion. There's no weapons allowed within the city limits, so we camp on the other side of the Little Tiber.'

Ahead of us was what looked like a large military camp. Guard towers and trenches marked the camp's borders, and inside were long rectangular buildings that must be the legion's barracks.

'Not quite the same as Camp Half-Blood' I muttered to Percy.

'Yeah, we're pretty laid back compared to the Romans' he replied. 'I swear these guys have no chill. Then again, they did kinda conquer Greece back in the day so that might explain it…'

Alyx huffed loudly. She hadn't said much since we'd gone through the passage and emerged in Camp Jupiter, but she had a sour look on her face.

'What's so great about this place anyway?' she asked, glaring at the aqueduct overhead. 'I'd take Camp Half-blood any day of the week.'

'Quiet in the line' barked Jack. 'We're approaching camp.'

The guards at the gate eyed us curiously, but after a few moments of whispered discussion with Jack waved us through. Once inside, the rest of the Roman campers peeled off, heading for their quarters. Jack motioned to us.

'I'll take you to see Reyna. She's training at the moment, but I'm sure she won't mind being interrupted.'

Percy rolled his eyes.

'Of course. What better time is there to interrupt someone than when they're carrying a long, sharp object?'

'Exactly!' Jack agreed heartily. 'This way.'

We walked along a gravel path, passing purple shirted campers sparring, playing basketball, and building what looked like a miniature Trojan horse. Many of them waved or called out a greeting to Percy and Annabeth.

Jack stopped us when we arrived at a raised gated area. Its floor was covered in sand, and there were bleachers around the sides for spectators.

'The gladiatorial ring' Jack told us smugly. 'It's where Roman legionnaires can prove themselves in single combat. You might want to watch; it's no secret that the Twelfth Legion was the most successful unit in the Imperial Army. They used to call us _'Armed with Lightning.'_

Jack turned his back to us, and Ross put two fingers in his mouth, pretending to throw up. We all stifled a laugh.

Inside the ring, a figure in armour and a flowing purple cape was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with two other fighters. They circled the figure, darting in with their short swords, looking for an opening; but the figure simply danced around their thrusts, parrying with shocking speed.

As we watched, the person in the purple cape ducked underneath a swing and threw a gut punch, doubling the attacker over as their fist connected. The other fighter moved in, but this mysterious figure meet the incoming blade with their own sword, and deftly flicked the weapon out of their opponent's hand.

I was amazed. I began to clap, but quickly realised no-one else was joining, and stopped.

' _Praetor!'_ Jack called. 'You have visitors.'

The figure took off her helmet, allowing her jet-black hair to cascade down her shoulders, framing her face. She was very attractive, in a way that was almost… regal. Her eyes were hard and determined, and she had an easy air of authority that marked her as a natural leader. I could see why the Romans had picked her to be in charge.

'Well, if it isn't my favourite Greeks' Reyna commented, appraising us. 'Annabeth. Percy. It's been too long.'

Percy grinned.

'Good to see you. Sorry we haven't visited more often. Saving the world can really keep a guy busy, y'know?'

The corner of Reyna's mouth twitched.

'Indeed. Annabeth, how are you?'

Annabeth shrugged.

'I've been better. I wish we could meet with you under better circumstances Reyna, but unfortunately this isn't just a social call.'

Reyna nodded.

'I thought as much. I'm sure we have much to discuss. But first.'

She turned to face us.

'These three I don't know. Who are they?'

'The girl with the twin swords and feisty attitude is Alyx' Percy told Reyna, pointing her out. 'And the walking headache is Ross. Just don't get him talking and you should be fine.'

Ross waved cheerily, unperturbed.

'Cool place you've got here' he told Reyna, gesturing around him. 'Not sure if I'm a fan of the whole gladiator fighting pit but, hey, whatever floats your boat.'

Reyna narrowed her eyes.

'And who are their godly parents?' she asked Percy, ignoring Ross.

'Hermes.'

Reyna snorted as if this explained everything.

'Should have guessed.'

She pointed a finger at Ross.

'Last time we had children of Hermes here they set a chariot on fire and stole hundreds of dollars' worth of vouchers from the New Rome frozen yoghurt store.'

Ross' eyes lit up.

'You have a frozen yoghurt store?' he asked, before hurriedly adding, 'Not that I even like frozen yoghurt. Because I don't. And I would _never_ think of stealing vouchers. Could you tell me where the store is though? Just so I can avoid it.'

Alyx hit Ross in the shoulder. He shut up.

Then Reyna's cold gaze fell on me.

'And you are?'

I cleared my throat.

'Castor, son of Caerus, your… um, highness.'

Reyna's eyebrows shot up.

'A child of luck?' she asked, her voice tinged with an emotion I didn't recognise. Trepidation? Relief?

'That's what they tell me' I said. 'Hardly feels that way most of the time, I can tell you.'

'In the entire history of Camp Jupiter, we have never had a child of Tempus in our halls' Reyna told me. 'This makes today… historic.'

I didn't know what to say. There was an awkward silence as Reyna simply stared, and everyone else shuffled their feet, unsure of what to do. Alyx looked between me and Reyna, a frown on her face. Finally, Percy clapped his hands together.

'Well' he said, with a forced joviality. 'Great. I'm glad today is historic. But we really do have a lot to talk about, so we probably should be getting on.'

Reyna blinked, and shook herself, as if coming out of a trance.

'Yes, of course. We can talk in the _imperio._ Follow me.'

'Do you need me to accompany you, Praetor?' Jack asked eagerly.

Reyna waved him away irritably.

'I'll be perfectly fine. Besides, don't you have punishment duties to be getting on with after you tried to attach a machine gun to that drone?'

Jack scowled.

'I was only trying to innovate Rome's weaponry' he muttered, but saluted and marched off.

Ross waggled his eyebrows at me.

'Reyna seems nice' he whispered, conspiratorially. 'And by nice, I mean, terrifying. Some guys like a girl who will take charge though. Wear the pants in the relationship, so to speak. No judgement.'

I ignored him. Something felt weird, but I put it to the back of the mind. We had a quest to do.


End file.
